The Life of Virtue

God is revealing something special through the Scripture readings for Mass during this twentieth week in Ordinary Time.  The Lord makes abundantly clear that He intends to bring all people, even those perceived as the lowest and least faithful, into covenant relationship with Himself.  Yet, such a relationship is not possible without a radical transformation of heart, which will prepare God's faithful and chosen ones to present a witness to the world.  It is this witness of transformation, and nothing else, that will allow God to reach out and gather in all those He desires for His own. Let's examine the lectionary readings for this week to see how this process works.  For three consecutive days, the Church hears the message of the prophet Ezekiel about the sour state of Israel and their leaders, and about the travesties that befall a people who are unfaithful to the Lord.  They are prideful, haughty, and have become gods of their own making (cf. Ez. 28:1-10 )...

As I've been reading, teaching, and praying over the past few days, a basic theme of God's revelation has come into my consciousness again and again.  This significant part of God's plan for humanity has always been true, it has never been negated, and I can recite it as a truth in the same way that I might recite multiplication tables.  I am quite sure, however, that God has brought this reality into my line of sight more frequently recently because He knows that I have yet to perfect it as He intends for me.  The simple truth is that love of God is inseparable from love of neighbor.  Neither of these is attained fully without the other. It is always true that love of God leads directly to love of neighbor; it leads in no other direction.  Two passages of Sacred Scripture have reiterated this to me in recent days.  The first of these is from the book of Deuteronomy.  As the Israelites wander in the desert, nearing the end of their forty-year communa...

I have recently been blessed to experience beautiful weather along with magnificent sunrises and sunset.  Such moments of aesthetic appeal call to my mind other instances of natural beauty that I have been blessed to see.  I am reminded of a return flight from Australia during which I viewed the most captivating burnt orange aura encircling the earth as the sun set over the earth's horizon.  I also recall many late summer evenings when everything around seemed to radiate in an extraordinary way.  The sunrise that I witnessed this morning was no different.  In every case, these glimpses of beauty have brought me to ponder God more deeply. Romano Guardini is the author of a book whose final pages capture this reality as well.   The Living God concludes with a reflection on the "gentle and powerful beauty [that] reigns over all."  This is the reason that natural events (sunrises, sunsets, schools of fish swimming, etc.) and natural forms (mountain...