Day Four of Forty: The Virtue of Religion

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The word "religion" is often used in reference to a set of beliefs and worship practices that makes up one part of a broader culture.  At least that's how it's come to be used in the modern world, and it is often used in pejorative sense.  Yet, until the modern age, religion (read "the cult") has been the central and pervading element of culture.  Religion is so integral to culture, not because it is simply a set of beliefs and worship practices that a human being attaches to who she is, but because it is a virtue that allows her to express her full created glory.

The virtue of religion is the first virtue related to the cardinal virtue of justice.  Religion is the virtue by which a person is disposed to give to God what is due to His Holy Name.  Thus, the person may remain in right relationship with God.  God is the Creator of humanity and, as such, deserves worship, praise, and happy obedience of lifestyle because of His gift to us.  The good news is that life takes on whole new dimensions, and joy becomes apparent, when we exercise this virtue of religion.  The bad news is that we can easily fail to cultivate this virtue and worship created things instead.

Our human nature is such that a person will worship something.  That is guaranteed.  The thing we worship might be another person, a job or place of employment, a political or economic system, a sports team, personal health and diet, food and wine, or a myriad of other things.  However, the Sacred Scriptures indicate where our priorities ought to lay:
"If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight, and the Lord's holy day honorable; if you honor it by not following your own interests or speaking with malice--then you shall delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth..." (Isaiah 58:13-14a).
Indeed, religion is the virtue that causes us always to remember who the Creator is, and our status before Him.  It brings about a desire to reprioritize our lives so that our daily habits reflect our relationship to the Divine, which is that of a humble and joyful servant.  Recapturing the virtue of religion will be good for the culture as a whole.

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