September 14, 2012 – Catechism 1803 – 1811

The four Cardinal virtues are Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.  I was thinking about the difference between Justice and Fairness.  Is there a difference.  The word fair is thrown around a lot.  Pay your fair share recently has been brought up in politics.  We hear that life isn’t fair.  When comparing just and fair, is life just or would it mean the same to say pay your just share.  Justice is a Cardinal virtue, but does that mean the same as fairness.  The definition in the Catechism is “to give their due to God and neighbor.”  The actual paragraph quotes Colossians 4:1 about treating slaves “justly and fairly”.  I just wonder if the two are interchangeable. 

Temperance is probably the one that is most challenging to people in our age.  The reason is it so against the world.  The world says to indulge in all your pleasures.  Any restriction on pleasure is seen as an unhealthy action.  But that is one of the biggest problems with the world and why we are in such shape we are in.  Everyone just does whatever they feel.