The Life of Virtue

Continuing the trend from yesterday's post, I have found another article entitled "To Study History Is to Become Catholic." I know that fact all too well.  When I didn't know Truth, I was brought to an understanding (by the Holy Spirit and the woman who would become my wife) that Christ founded the Catholic Church; that Peter was the first pope; and that Catholic bishops can trace their ministerial lineage all the way back to the Apostles.  Ultimately, I had to ask myself: "Do I want to be in the Church that Christ founded, or one that was begun by some other fellow?"  To Rome I made the journey!

This article by James Hitchcock provides wonderful insight into the time period and reasons for the development of Eucharistic Adoration as a devotional practice.  In addition to the great factual information, Hitchcock makes readers wonder why liturgists who dislike the devotion (some of whom he mentions in the article) have any credibility in the Catholic Church. Can you imagine a Church that doesn't seek to find direction, inspiration, and formation from the very Man who began the whole venture?  That would be like a Fortune 500 corporation failing to allow its founder to the board of directors' meeting!

[Although Pope John Paul II has not yet been beatified or canonized, a title of blessedness is coming soon.  We all know that he's gonna be a saint one day, right?] INQUIRER: What's the point of this whole "love thy neighbor" thing?  I have a hard enough time loving my family and friends.  Can't I just love God and have that be enough? POPE JOHN PAUL II: We may be tempted to show respect only for the great ones of the earth and to reserve our love for our own family and friends.  But Christ teaches us that, for good or ill, what we do to the least of our brothers and sisters we do to Him.

The Lectionary Readings for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time continued the theme of virtue from the previous week.  This week, the virtue at the center of the readings is humility.  Humility is that virtue which keeps us in our proper place, especially in relationship to God. In the Gospel reading, two of Jesus’ disciples ask to be granted the “favor” of sitting at His right and His left in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus reminded those two men that grave suffering (yes, death) would come before either of them entered the Kingdom of Heaven.  That surely was meant to teach them about humility. Further, Jesus remarked that “whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.”  Say what?  If I want to be first, I have to be a slave?  Yes, the virtue of humility teaches us to find God’s glory even while taking the place of a slave to others, because we begin to realize that’s what He did for us!

INQUIRER: I'm confused and curious about human freedom (some call it free will).  I've been told that freedom means the ability to choose to do whatever I want to do as long as I feel that it's "right."  Can you clear up this questions for me? ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO: The freedom of the will is then true freedom when it does not serve vice and sins. [Personal addition from a layman with an Augustinian spirituality: In it's essence, free will is the ability to choose any action, right or wrong.  However, with a purified conscience, human freedom directs us toward doing that which is good, which brings more freedom.  Choosing vice and sin hinders our freedom and will eventually wrap us in slavery to those same vices.]

For the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time , the Church has blessed us with readings that help us to build virtue and renounce the things of this world.  The following are my reflections. Isn’t it interesting that the author of the Old Testament passage preferred wisdom (also known as the virtue of prudence) to all the world’s wealth and possessions?  This man’s words reflect a truth that is found in every human heart, even though it has been covered throughout many centuries of pride and greed.  Somewhere within us, we all know that riches fail to satisfy our deepest longings. Our deepest desires can only be filled by knowing God’s ways and living out His commands.  Those two things are made clear when we develop the virtue of wisdom.  When we seek to become wise, God reveals to us what He expects and desires of us; and we begin to realize that true fulfillment will only be found in doing what God desires.

INQUIRER: St. Alexander, I've recently witnessed a lot of people who are angry at the Catholic Church; and I've even seen some who openly say that the Church is wrong.  Can the Catholic Church ever be destroyed? [caption id="attachment_245" align="alignnone" width="155" caption="St. Alexander of Alexandria"] [/caption] ST. ALEXANDER OF ALEXANDRIA: The one and only Catholic and Apostolic Church can never be destroyed, though all the world should seek to make war against it.  It is victorious over every impious revolt of the heretics who rise up against it.

The Lectionary Readings for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time offered a powerful revelation about the relationship between husband and wife.  Truly, a marriage has the potential to be a most powerful witness to Love and Truth. Husbands and wives who cling to each other, who don't allow themselves to be separated, will be blessed by the Lord all the days of their lives.  Those blessings come in two parts: a unique physical, emotional, and spiritual communion that breeds hope, trust, joy, generosity, and other virtues; and children, who breed wisdom, self-sacrifice, patience...and so on.  A person who seeks to live out Christ's teaching on marriage will be able to identify such blessings, even in the midst of uncertainty and turmoil. God bless!