The Life of Virtue

Catholics are living in difficult times.  There are multiple, huge scandals that have come to light in recent weeks.  Now, even segments of the hierarchy seems to be pitted against each other.  It seems to be getting more heated and dire as each day passes.  It surely is not easy for the laity and faithful clergy to stand by and watch as all this unfolds. This post is not intended to add to the enormous (and growing) mountain of commentary about the scandals; about who's in the wrong or in the right.  There has been plenty written and spoken about this, including a wonderful homily from my own pastor .  I do, however, want to provide just a simple and quick commentary on a passage of Scripture that I think can help us. Horace Vernet, Jeremiah on the Ruins of Jerusalem (1844, close-up) In the very first chapter of the book of the prophet Jeremiah, we read God's direction to the ancient prophet, and we should read it as the Lord speaking directly to u...

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. ...

A young, indie-pop band called Ocean Park Standoff has recently released a hit single entitled “Good News.”  With catchy beats and lyrics, the song draws in its listeners from the opening notes.  Still, there is a greater value to this song than its potential to climb music charts. About the motivation for writing the song, one of the band members remarks, "It was about our daily lives and breakups and work issues and the fact that everything coming at us from the outside world was like, 'It's only getting worse!' because that's what sells."  Indeed, the human heart cries out for good news in the midst of the mundane and in the midst of suffering.  The answer, however, does not lie in what we can do for ourselves, in the power or positive thinking.  This song should remind all of us that we need more than that.  This song is a cry for a deeper relationship with the Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Many of the lyrics point the listener in ...

When we look around at the world, the culture, and human beings, there is little room for doubt that something needs to be fixed.  Our daily experience proves to us that relationships and the rhythm of life are fractured and broken.  Yet, we fool ourselves if we think that we can create the solution to the problem.  More efficient and effective legal justice, along with more technichal and governmental oversight, will probably only serve to illuminate more and deeper troubles. Something else is needed to save individuals, social groups, and the collective culture from its clear and present woes.  And, that something must come from outside of the same individuals, groups, and culture.  That something must come from the Divine Source of all created life.  That something is mercy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides a simple definition of mercy: "the loving kindness, compassion, or forbearance shown to one who offends" (Glossary of the 2nd Editi...

In recent weeks, I have been conversing with young adults who are wrapping up their semester studies.  Despite the various institutions they attend and the various majors they have chosen, one common theme has shone itself through these conversations.  In the weeks leading up to final projects and exams, these students are quite tense and full of stress as they realize that they may not have learned all the necessary material in order to pass the test(s) and course(s).  They begin to wonder if they have procrastinated a bit longer than they should have, which elicits extra anxiety.  One young man even said to me, "I've learned how to re-learn an entire semester's material in a single afternoon so that I can pass the exam."  As I listen to these young people talk, I recall my own studies.  I freely admit that I did plenty of procrastinating and last-minute cramming during my college career.  Therefore, I know that procrastination and last-minute crammin...

The Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter presents Jesus as a shepherd whose voice is recognized by His sheep.  During the ensuing days, Monday and Tuesday , the Church has read and heard subsequent passages from that tenth chapter of John's gospel.  By these Scriptures, and by the readings from Acts of the Apostles and the Psalms, Christians gain a deeper understanding of the purpose and the dynamics of the Shepherd-sheep relationship.  These three days of liturgical proclamation help one to realize that she must listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd, which echoes in the voice of the Church, for guidance toward her appointed end. Early in John 10, Jesus portrays Himself as the one true voice among the voices of strangers that sheep do not recognize.  Just a few verses later, the Lord announces that He is the source of salvation and abundant life in peaceful pastures.   His role as the supreme and divine pastor stands in stark contras...

It might be easy to glean, from a quick perusal of this blog, that I thoroughly enjoy thinking, speaking, and writing about the virtue of hope.  In my humblest opinion, it makes a fascinating topic for a number of reasons: 1) lots of modern people misunderstand this theological virtue; 2) it is what the world needs most right now; and 3) it reminds us of the end that is in store for us, Heaven, while it entices us to work diligently every day, here and now, to reach that Blessedness.  Imagine the glorious exaltation that I made to the Father when I realized that hope is the major theme running through the lectionary readings for the Third Sunday of Easter . Now, it would be excellent if I had time to offer, and my readers had patience to read, an extended article on several dimensions of the virtue of hope.  Since neither condition is present at the moment, I will limit my commentary solely to the knowledge we can gain from the Scripture readings that we heard just yest...

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, ...

While I am not always able to do so (because of my own inner distractions as well as a few squirmy children), I do my very best to listen to every prayer that is said at Mass.  I was blessed during yesterday's Mass to struggle and strain to hear the words of the Preface, which is said before the Sanctus and the Eucharistic Prayer.  The prescribed preface for the First Sunday of Advent is as follows: For he assumed at his first coming the lowliness of human flesh, and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago, and opened for us the way to eternal salvation, that, when he comes again in glory and majesty and all is at last made manifest, we who watch for that day may inherit the great promise in which now we dare to hope. That prayer reminded me why I so thoroughly enjoy the Advent season, and why I am so attracted to the virtue of hope.  The extraordinary seasonal joy that I experience, as well as the attraction to preparing now for what is to come, hap...