Photo Prayer:
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Amen.
Justice is the second of the fundamental moral virtues, and enters into all our relations with God and our fellow-men. The basis of harmonious intercourse between intelligent beings consists in rights and duties. The fact of our being intelligent and masters of ourselves involves the right to certain things that are for the welfare of our life, and the right to act according to our will, except so far as this may conflict with the rights of mastery in others. To each right corresponds a duty upon others to refrain from encroachments. God possesses supreme rights of independent action and of ownership over all things. Our first duty then is to respect those supreme rights. Men, too, have rights either as individuals or in their corporate capacity, but not as against God. Many of these rights are assigned by Nature, i.e., by God as Author of the natural order; they accord with our natural needs, and so assert themselves spontaneously in us. All positive human law must respect these rights, and refrain from infringing them. Other rights rise out of the positive law of God, or are the creation of human law. Admire the moral and social harmony created by this system of rights and duties. Thank God for His wise dispositions. Remember that all rights rest on Him and are sacred; by respecting them you do homage to God and promote the general good order of the world.
