The Life of Virtue

We are still on our miniature Advent retreat via these weekly reflections.  The scripture passages for the Second Week of Advent remind us that something great is about to happen.  In Sunday’s readings, we anticipate the Messiah who has been endowed with the great Spirit of God (Is. 11); and we hear John the Baptist exclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 3:2)!  Remember last week’s readings: we are supposed to be preparing for the coming of the kingdom.  This week we are told that the moment has come.  The time is now.  We must be ready! One of the most important themes of this second week is captured by Isaiah, on Tuesday.  The prophet exclaims, “In the desert, prepare the way of the Lord! … Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed…” (Is. 40)!  We learn that God wants to reveal His face to us, and He wants to make the spiritual deserts of our lives arid again.  The purpose of Advent, then, is to make our hearts...

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...

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...

Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord.  There is a clear connection between this high liturgical feast day and the theological virtue of faith.  By the virtue of faith, this story is brought out of the past and made applicable in the lives of the Christian faithful in this age.  In this momentous celebration, God's people receive a beautiful revelation about the way that He meets us in order to bring us into deep communion with Him, even if we would be skeptical by natural, worldly standards. The Gospel reading for the daily liturgy is a perfect place to begin.  There, St. Luke records Mary's reception of the perplexing message of the angel, first with doubt, and then with freedom and fearlessness.  When Gabriel greeted Mary as the "favored one," she was troubled (Lk 1:28-29).  His only response was to tell her, "Don't worry, Mary, you're going to have a son out of wed-lock" (loose paraphrase of Lk 1:30-31).  S...