The Life of Virtue

For the past two years, I have suffered a particular type of severe physical ailment on nearly a daily basis.   This suffering has been debilitating and frustrating because I have never dealt with such pain, suffering, or limitation ever before in my life.   On many days over the past two years, I have found myself asking the Lord why He is allowing this to happen; asking Him how this is for His greatest glory.   I want to see that everything He gives to me, and everything I do, is for my good and His glory, but I just haven’t been able to see it all that well. God has funny ways of answering my questions, which are usually more like complaints.   He gives me a little wink and a proverbial elbow-nudge in the side to remind me that He does know what’s going on and that He’s still in charge. Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola.   I was reading one of Ignatius’s letters to a friend, and I came across another one of God’s divine winks. ...

Chapter 17 of Acts of the Apostles refers to the men "who have turned the world upside down..." (v. 6).  Upon reviewing the details of this chapter, a reader is able to understand some of the most important and enduring characteristics of men who turn the world on its head.  Examining the details of the chapter and the characteristics of such a man brings the reader to one simple conclusion.  The man who turns the world upside down is none other than the man of virtue. In order to create shift of focus and momentum, it is first necessary to know the current direction of focus and momentum.  Acts 17 reveals this point when it notes that St. Paul met with Jews, Epicureans, and Stoics in first-century Athens.  The Apostle was familiar with the variant ideas of his day, and he was able to speak to each of them in some detail.  Because of his extraordinary erudition, Paul managed to win converts from among the Jews and Gentiles in that community.  Yet, h...

An envelope arrived in my mailbox, sometime late last year.  Above my name and address, this envelope encouraged me to "Give the World What It Needs Most..."  The return address bore the emblem of my alma mater.  Given that I attended a really big, state-funded university without religious affiliation, I was curious as to the claim about "what the world needs most."  I was virtually certain that my answer and the university's answer would differ greatly. The claim surprised me.  My university wasn't trying to give the world more technology or more business professionals with higher degrees or more access to secularized "arts."  My university wants to provide leaders to the world.  With some slight adjustments of their understanding of leadership and the value that it provides to the world, I just might be able to get behind this project.  If there were dollars in my family budget to give toward cultivating great leaders for the next generation, ...