Review: Justice

Review:  Justice
Judge Rightly, Give Freely

 

In his book, Fr. Gregory Pine presents very clearly the embodiment of the virtue of Justice, how it is lived.  I’m sure everyone has a “belief in justice”, but people might have differing practical, lived out, beliefs of justice, and often with a foundation of “my rights.”  Fr, Pine quickly moves to define this book’s purpose as a look at my neighbor’s actions --- is he doing what he ought to be doing, acting justly. 

“Instead of concentrating on our rights, we’ll focus on growing in virtue, making the effort to become just and act justly…. What is due functions as a guide….  The way God has created a thing sets the standard for how we ought to treat it.  My neighbor is a human being, (so) I ought to treat him accordingly; this entails respect for his freedom of self-determination.”

Fr. Pine speaks of God’s law at work in our nature, and the uniqueness of individual created human beings, and justice due from his neighbor or community.  There is a chapter titled: Working for the Common Good.  There is another titled: Acknowledging our Dependence.  You can see he moves far beyond a person’s definition of “my rights”, and opens up our hearts to the word “love”..  I enjoyed reading how clearly, with simple examples, Fr. Pine’s words get into the depths of the word Justice, and how they softly get into our depths.  Perhaps that’s why I underlined this portion on the last page of the book:

“As we progress in our states of life, we must leave space for love; we must allow ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ to give way to ‘ours’ and, ultimately, to ‘His’.  For by the life of love and mercy, we strive beyond the limits of mere justice.”