The Second Cardinal Virtue: Justice

Where prudence, the first cardinal virtue, is knowing the good, the second cardinal virtue, justice, is the art of doing the good.  Justice is the virtue that concerns how we live with our fellow man.  It has been classically defined as giving to each person his due.  Justice concerns the cluster of virtues concerned with relationships including piety, gratitude, friendship, gentleness, hospitality, liberality, and equity.  All of us tend to favor ourselves at the expense of others, but the just man or woman gives to each their due and treats them as he would be treated.    As one's power and influence grow, so does the opportunity for the abuse and misuse of one's position.  Therefore, the virtue of justice is crucial to those in increasing positions of authority.  Not only because they set an example for the rest of us, but also because, without justice, power can be self-serving, arbitrary and oppressive.  Further, if those who are responsible to uphold justice in society do not, terrible injustice can result.[i]   In the Christian conception of virtue, justice must be tempered with mercy.  It may also call on us to harm ourselves in order to help others.  "The just man, the more he realizes that he is the recipient of gifts and that he has an obligation to God and to man, will alone be ready to fulfill what he does not owe.  He will decide to give something to the other that no one can force him to give."[ii]   Christ then is the ultimate form of the just man, who came to serve and die for man, and will come again to judge the world with equity.    What then does God require of us:  "He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"[iii] [i] A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart by Josef Pieper [ii] Ibid. [iii] Micah 6:8