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. ...

The Collect for today's Mass, Monday during the First Week of Lent, asks God: "instruct our minds by heavenly teaching, that we may benefit from the works of Lent."  What, we may ask, are the works of Lent that can benefit us so greatly?  It is no coincidence that the Church provides the answer specifically through the lectionary readings for this week.  From Sunday through Saturday, there are six identifiable works by which we can be converted and grow in holiness during this noble season. The first is found in the second reading from yesterday's Mass (the First Sunday of Lent).  St. Paul writes to the ancient Roman Church, and to us, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  The very first work of Lent is an act of faith, which includes inward belief and outward expression.  During some particularly difficult years, this is the only work that I have been able to c...

Somewhere just beyond the middle (section 17, to be exact) of Misericordiae Vultus , the Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis recommends that it is appropriate to meditate on the pages of Sacred Scripture during Lent in order to "help us rediscover the merciful face of the Father."  It seems very appropriate to dive deeply into God's mercy during this season of mercy.  This is the first article in a series of reflections on God's mercy as revealed on the Sacred Page, specifically in the lectionary readings during Lent. The first days of Lent, before the first Sunday, provide clear signposts to the three-fold path by which disciples of the Lord can receive God's mercy, and by which they can be a part of extending His mercy to others.  Look no further than the Gospel passage selected for Ash Wednesday.  During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches His listeners how to take up fasting, prayer, and almsgiving (the three pillars of tradition...

In my most recent post, I mentioned that my life includes any number of things that continue to cause anxiety for me on a regular basis.  In the ensuing two weeks, my Lord has seen fit to provide wonderful and freeing perspective, particularly through a spiritual direction session and through the Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales.  Therefore, this post is something of a rebuttal to that part of the previous post by way of this new and fresh (at least for me) perspective. The modern world in which we live celebrates wealth without any inhibition.  The idea is that everyone has an inalienable right to accumulate dollars and possessions without limit or end.  Efforts to eradicate economic poverty are, at base, attempts to bring more people into this ever-increasing cycle of production and profit.  The world scoffs at poverty, and the prevailing culture proposes a glamorous solution, but one that is, ultimately, bereft of real value. Throug...

Is there any other time in our lives when six weeks feels like, well, six weeks?  I am in conversations regularly with people who speak about how time passes so quickly.  School years and basketball seasons seem to come and go in the blink of an eye, and we wonder where the time went.  Yet, just over halfway into this blessed liturgical season, Lent seems to be moving at the pace of molasses pouring from a jar.  Perhaps I am not alone in my question: do we really have three more weeks to go? Lent seems so long for two reasons.  The first is completely objective: Lent is, in fact, the longest season of denial and suffering during the Church's year.  No other season requires sustained fasting from worldly pleasures like Lent.  Lent is not for spiritual whimps, like me.  It is for spiritual warriors who are willing to fight to express their devotion to God The second reason follows directly from the first.  I am, in large part, unwilling ...

Last week, a popular news site posted a story entitled "Why this millennial quit his 6-figure job and gave away most of his possessions."   The young man about whom the story was written admitted that his "six-figure salary, impressive [job] title, and big house full of stuffed closets" didn't fulfill his deepest longings.  In fact, he noticed that his obsessive work habits and a vicious cycle of consumerism had destroyed his life and relationships, even his marriage.  Thus, he turned to "minimalism,"which he defines as "a lifestyle dedicated to clearing the clutter in your life and making room for the things that are truly important to you." This fellow is clearly on to something, except it isn't his original idea.  The thing that this young man calls minimalism, the Church has called detachment for centuries; and it's the reality that Jesus called poverty of spirit, which He listed as the first Beatitude (Matthew 5:3).  Indeed, fo...

C.S. Lewis, a great bard of the English language, once quipped, "If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity."  On a similar theme, in a tweet shortly before he resigned as Supreme Pontiff, Pope Emeritus Benedict wrote, "The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort.  You were made for greatness."  In two pithy statements, these men captured one of Christianity's defining characteristics: it assaults a person's comfort zones.  Paradoxically, it is this assault on comfort that brings a person to the fullness of what God intends for him or her to be. A nice representation of the benefits of expanding one's comfort zone. If a person is comfortable while living Christianity, then she isn't living Christianity in a manner commensurate with the intentions of its Founder.  That's precisely because Christ always challenges us by pushing our boundaries.  He always attem...

[This post appeared originally on my full site, which is now no longer in operation, in October 2012.] The first Beatitude that Our Lord gave: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:3). So, poverty of spirit is a virtue, as are all the Beatitudes (which is a different article). But what does “poverty of spirit” mean? In a single word, it is synonymous with “detachment.” I have known a few sisters in my short time as a Catholic. Those sisters are nothing if they are not detached. They are detached from everything except the love of Christ and the gifts and mission that He has given to them. They are the epitome of “poverty of spirit,” in my opinion. In recent days, a news story has surfaced that a community of sisters in Baltimore, Maryland will be the beneficiary of the auction of a rare, Honus Wagner-baseball card. At this point, their detachment has merited over $65,000 for their community, not including the graces that will lead the...