What We Owe Others

Imagine what the world would be like if more and more people lived Sunday well. To worship and receive Jesus at Mass, spend time with family and friends, engage in activities that make us delight in the good world God made, spend time in prayer, and do something for those in need.

The world would change.

So let’s take back Sunday and change the world.

ONE

We have been learning about and meditating on the virtue of Justice - the constant and firm choice to give God and neighbor their due – what we owe them.

In justice, we must consider first what we owe God and others, then, secondly, what we should not deprive them of.

To begin with, we owe all people, even enemies goodwill and respect.

Goodwill is the virtue in which we make the choice to want good for others, even competitors and even enemies, to think well of others, and to speak well of others since every person has the right to a good reputation.

Goodwill means never viewing other people as less great than their true dignity. Every human was made in the Image of God, and all are called to share in His divine life. Therefore, all people have an immense dignity that deserves respect. We must never reduce them to some attribute or defect or label. No person can be reduced to simply a Democrat or liberal or Republican or conservative or whatever negative or disparaging term we use.

Descriptions are fine but reductions are not.

Try to go the next 24 hours without reducing a person to a label.