Thought for Today

 

    The justice rubric, however, is not simply horizontal, but also vertical. Aquinas lived in hierarchical society, as did Jesus, and as did most people before the age of American style democracy. Justice was not only right behavior between equals; it was also right behavior between ranks, which in an earlier day we would have called “superiors” and “inferiors.” Given disproportionate distribution of power, those who had more of it were expected to be even more just in their relationship to their inferiors. It is in this context of expectation that the aphorism of behavior was articulated: “from those to whom much is given much is expected.” In a medieval feudal society, where every person fell into an order ranking that spiraled up to God at the top, duties were specified both among and between the ranks. God’s power was absolute, but it was mitigated by notions of mercy and the desire to inspire harmony and loyalty. Thus the king, who got his power from God, would recognize the relationship he owned to his inferior, the duke, and so on down the social chain.

 

    To interrupt that ordered set of expectations, to fail in one’s duty to fulfill responsibilities downward and upward and horizontally, was to create disorder; and where there was disorder and the absence of justice, there could be no peace. True peace can exist only in a situation where justice prevails.