“Put on the breastplate of righteousness” (Eph 6:14b).
This affirmation makes us understand that righteousness or justice protects the person. Justice means giving each person what is due to him or her, being attentive to cases in which the dignity of the person is threatened by injustice, and guaranteeing his or her rights as far as possible. This applies to the personal sphere, but also to society in general.
Our Father has endowed us with a keen sense of what is just and what is unjust, so that we must have become very distant and blinded when we no longer recognize it, when nothing in us cries out for justice, when injustice happens before our eyes and we overlook it or do not even notice it.
Usually, our nature is very sensitive when we ourselves are treated unjustly, but we are less sensitive when it comes to other people.
But the Lord has given us unsurpassable advice for practicing true justice: “Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets” (Mt 7:12).
If we take this to heart as a “golden rule” and try to put it into practice, then we are training ourselves in justice and it will surround us like a protective wall, because true justice comes from God, who is justice Himself.
As Christians, we also know other dimensions of justice that come from our faith. For example, it is justice that the Gospel be taken to the ends of the earth (Mk 16:15), because all people have the right to know God as He really is. This is a work of love and justice.