1/3/23
Do a Study on Respect & Obedience.
This is what is expressly owed by a priest to his ordinary and to the Holy Father.
Secular Priests are bound to render it according to the order of justice, that is, by law. This order is different from the way that members of religious communities are bound to render it to their superiors. But how does it differ?
What’s the difference between the mode of Justice and the mode of Charity?
Christians are all bound by both modes, of charity & of justice. But in what way are we bound?
A man owes what is right to all mankind. A Christian man, all the more so. Christ commands we love even our enemies and even to the point of laying down one’s life.
Two extreme ends of the spectrum, then. On one end, no man ought to render anything to anyone, for any reason. On the other end, all men ought to lay down their lives for everyone, for every reason. Both extremes, certainly, are catastrophically wrong. How do charity and justice help us navigate between the two?
Certain men owe certain things to certain other men for certain reasons under certain circumstances. Fine.
Is this Charity or Justice, though?