St. Michael's Lent 2026 - Reading #16 - Discernment
Reading
Without justice, what are kingdoms but great robberies?
"Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity."
Scale and impunity are not legitimacy.
Then the pirate’s reply to Alexander: "Indeed, that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, 'What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor.'"
Audit your small kingdom for justice — not only efficiency.
Reflection
The principle cuts every direction, and a discerning man lets it. It strips the prestige off worldly power: bigness, success, and winning confer no legitimacy by themselves, and your sons should learn early not to confuse the great fleet with the right cause. But it also turns inward, to the small kingdom you rule. A household, too, can be a well-run robbery: authority exercised, resources gathered, order maintained — and justice absent. The wife unheard, the children managed rather than loved, the strong serving himself.
What makes your fatherhood different in kind from mere dominance is one thing only: rendering to each what is owed — to your wife, your children, your God.
This week's discernment turns from the culture's kingdom to your own. Audit it. Not its efficiency. Its justice.