The Life of Virtue

Gratitude is not simply a quaint idea to which we should tip our caps during a few short weeks in November each fall.  It is important that we move beyond a trite understanding and application, and come to understand the real place of gratitude in the spiritual life.  It is nothing less than a virtue and disposition that is at the foundation of our potential spiritual growth.  (In a corresponding way, its absence is at the “foundation” of spiritual stagnation.) Before we ever begin to speak of spiritual realities, gratitude simply helps us to get by more efficiently, effectively, and happily than the opposite alternative.  Grateful people grow and flourish, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, in ways that ungrateful people do not.  Still, we must resist the temptation to deal with gratitude simply on the natural level.  We must bring these principles to the supernatural level and grasp them there. We must come to understand that gratitude...

The scriptures tell us that the Lord is "rich in mercy" (Eph. 2:4).  This is quite true, simply because of who God is.  Still, it is possible to thwart God from extending as much mercy as He desires.  That is why Lent makes and excellent opportunity to begin, or to redouble, efforts to turn and transform.  Without a doubt, God will lavish His mercy upon us for forty days and beyond if we try to turn our hearts, minds, and voices toward Him. The Mass readings for the Third Week of Lent make this point abundantly clear.  From the moment of the Collect for Sunday Mass , anyone who listens or reads learns quickly that we must assume a posture of lowliness and humility in order for the Lord to lift us up.  Yet, because of our sinfulness, we continually refuse to assume such attitudes, and thus we cut ourselves off from mercy. There are several readings throughout the week in which we glimpse poor examples of hearts, minds, and voices turned toward the Lord. ...

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.  This celebration commemorates the day when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, was dedicated in the Temple at Jerusalem according to the Law of Moses.  On the fortieth day after birth, each first-born Jewish male was presented for service to the Lord.  It makes sense that Jesus was presented and consecrated in this way since He was both the first-born of Mary and the Eternal Son of God.  This moment  enables the Temple to become Jesus' natural and comfortable habitat, and it  marks the first step in allowing the Him to increase "in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52). Rembrandt, Simeon's Song of Praise (1631) Although we are not still bound by the Law of Moses, it is good and right for Christian parents to follow the same process for our children and our families.  If parents desire that the place of worship, the Church, becomes a natural and...

We all are aware that Thanksgiving, the great American holiday, happens tomorrow.  It seems, though, that the cultural awareness of the source of this celebration has been lost in recent years.  The first celebrants of this ritual gathered at table during shortly after the harvest season because of the gratitude in their hearts.  They were grateful for God's grace that allowed them to survive their first harsh winter in the New World; and for the assistance of their fellow man (native American Indians, specifically) in cultivating the crops and produce.  These were reasons for gratitude, indeed. Jennie Brownscombe, The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth (1914) Over the last three-plus centuries, the ritual has changed slightly.  There probably wasn't a grand exhibition of sport (like football) before, during, and immediately after the big meal.  It is very likely that folks didn't pack up for brief cross-country trips but, rather, they remained within ...

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...

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...

Yesterday was a glorious day.  The weather was nearly perfect, a delectable afternoon meal was served (and consumed) at table, friends gathered, and I even caught a cat nap while the evening breeze blew in.  Yet, none of these was the most important characteristic of the idyllic day.  No, the reason that yesterday approached such blessed perfection is simple: it was Sunday, the day for communion with the Lord and His people, which leads to rest. In recent weeks and months, I have been very much attuned to the need to keep Sunday sacred.  It is apparent that the enemy, who is still very much alive and lurking in the world, wants to distract God's people from the things that will keep them close to God.  (Believe me, I am first among the group of the distracted.)  The very first thing that he would like us to forget is the covenant day, the day when we pause everything else in our busy lives to commune deeply with the Creator God.  After Satan distract...

I often read and hear about the "fast food" culture in which we live, which is akin to the "sound bite" culture by which we consume our information.  While fast food and sound bites may provide some benefits at some intervals, they certainly are no way to maintain healthy bodies and minds.  Instead, human beings require good, fresh food and holistic learning if they are going to grow to their fullest potential. In recent days, I've been thinking about the many ways that a person's dining and learning habits might reflect his or her spiritual habits.  Does a person expect spiritual health with quick and small bites of information and formation?  From all the available evidence, it is clear that many in our culture think and act according to such a paradigm.  People surmise that they can cultivate deep spirituality and win answered prayers by way of distracted worship rituals, quickly-recited rote prayers, and commercial-bookstore "spirituality" t...

[The following is an article that was written by my wife for her school's quarterly newsletter. I think she's done a fabulous job of piercing through the many layers of our faith, and that she's presented some great insights for prayer. I know, I'm biased!] From the week of Thanksgiving until Christmas, I tend to become absorbed in the trends of our modern culture. I get caught up in the excitement of finding the best deals on gifts, thinking of goodies I would like to have, and so on. As Christmas draws nearer, I begin to realize that I have spent lots of time and attention providing for my own desires, and not enough time preparing my soul for the coming of Christ. For example, I recently noticed that I was thinking about clothes while I was supposed to be focused on the Prayers of the Faithful during Mass! So I must ask myself, “If the Second Coming were to take place on Black Friday, would Jesus find me to be a truly righteous person whom He would gladly...

The St. John Lateran Basilica has been dedicated to Our Lord's honor and memory for 1685 years. It is, without a doubt, one of the oldest legal Christian worship structures in the Western world. Further, it is among the most revered by the faithful because it is the arch-basilica of the Latin Rite Catholic Church; it is the Holy Father's cathedral for his post as Bishop of Rome. Each year on November 9, the Latin Rite Church celebrates the dedication of this cathedral with its own liturgical feast. In the liturgy of the day, faithful Catholics receive a fuller understanding of the Church as a living, breathing organism; a body that is life-giving rather than simply and institution marked by brick and mortar. Scripture readings are combined with prayers in order to produce an image of the New Jerusalem, the City of God, being built of "living stones" (i.e., "chosen people"). It is a powerful experience, for several reasons, to approach and enter this basilic...

This article by James Hitchcock provides wonderful insight into the time period and reasons for the development of Eucharistic Adoration as a devotional practice.  In addition to the great factual information, Hitchcock makes readers wonder why liturgists who dislike the devotion (some of whom he mentions in the article) have any credibility in the Catholic Church. Can you imagine a Church that doesn't seek to find direction, inspiration, and formation from the very Man who began the whole venture?  That would be like a Fortune 500 corporation failing to allow its founder to the board of directors' meeting!

The Lectionary Readings for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time continued the theme of virtue from the previous week.  This week, the virtue at the center of the readings is humility.  Humility is that virtue which keeps us in our proper place, especially in relationship to God. In the Gospel reading, two of Jesus’ disciples ask to be granted the “favor” of sitting at His right and His left in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus reminded those two men that grave suffering (yes, death) would come before either of them entered the Kingdom of Heaven.  That surely was meant to teach them about humility. Further, Jesus remarked that “whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.”  Say what?  If I want to be first, I have to be a slave?  Yes, the virtue of humility teaches us to find God’s glory even while taking the place of a slave to others, because we begin to realize that’s what He did for us!

For the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time , the Church has blessed us with readings that help us to build virtue and renounce the things of this world.  The following are my reflections. Isn’t it interesting that the author of the Old Testament passage preferred wisdom (also known as the virtue of prudence) to all the world’s wealth and possessions?  This man’s words reflect a truth that is found in every human heart, even though it has been covered throughout many centuries of pride and greed.  Somewhere within us, we all know that riches fail to satisfy our deepest longings. Our deepest desires can only be filled by knowing God’s ways and living out His commands.  Those two things are made clear when we develop the virtue of wisdom.  When we seek to become wise, God reveals to us what He expects and desires of us; and we begin to realize that true fulfillment will only be found in doing what God desires.

The Lectionary Readings for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time offered a powerful revelation about the relationship between husband and wife.  Truly, a marriage has the potential to be a most powerful witness to Love and Truth. Husbands and wives who cling to each other, who don't allow themselves to be separated, will be blessed by the Lord all the days of their lives.  Those blessings come in two parts: a unique physical, emotional, and spiritual communion that breeds hope, trust, joy, generosity, and other virtues; and children, who breed wisdom, self-sacrifice, patience...and so on.  A person who seeks to live out Christ's teaching on marriage will be able to identify such blessings, even in the midst of uncertainty and turmoil. God bless!

In recent years, an abundance of prayers for more priests (diocesan and those of religious communities) have been sent to the Father.  Without a doubt, those prayers have been heard; and there clearly are many more men who are listening for God's call rather than following the way of the world.  The report on the ordination class of 2009 reveals that truth. Personally, I am good friends with three of the men who were ordained for my home diocese.  From my interaction with them, I know that they are men of prayer and that they seek holiness above all things.  The godfather of my son said the following shortly before his ordination: “People would be surprised to know that I was raised Catholic, but became Southern Baptist in High School through the influence of friends and the general inactivity of the parish where I attended Mass in high school.  I came back to the Catholic Church in College through prayer and study.  It was primarily the Eucharist that brought be back to the Churc...

The Lectionary Readings for this past Sunday's Mass are available at http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/092009.shtml .  Hopefully, you remember them rather than having to look at them on the internet... Isn’t it interesting that some people try to discredit Jesus Christ?  Isn’t it interesting that some people place their own knowledge and beliefs higher than the revelation of God?  Isn’t it interesting that some people attempt to find flaws in Christian Tradition? The first reading for this coming Sunday is interesting because there seems to be an entire group of people who want to subject “the just one” (Christ) to ridicule, revilement, and torture.  Why?  Simply because their ways did not align with the ways of Him who is perfectly just and righteous. Have you ever done this?  Have you ever “looked down” upon Jesus in an attempt to make yourself feel better about your own actions or beliefs?  Let it not be so!  Look up to Him and try to conform your ways to His Truth! G...

Yesterday marked the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time; and the Responsorial Psalm had a huge impact on me.  The following are my reflections. Many times in our lives, we are tempted to scream out in want or need, “O Lord, save my life!”  We may even be tempted to do that when the thing or result we desire is not what’s truly best for us.  See, God is not a crutch; and He’s not a person to whom we talk only when we want or need something. God wants to save our lives (indeed, He has already provided that opportunity), but salvation only comes when we are ready to conform our ways to His ways.  To “call upon the name of the Lord” in distress and sorrow alone won’t provide what we’re looking for.  God is less like a divine candy store (a place to get something that makes you feel good for a short period of time) and more like a divine fitness center (a place that bears results after long periods of hard work and personal transformation). God bless!

As usual, Fr. Martin Fox (of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati) has posted a wonderful reflection about his homily from the Easter Vigil Mass.  I will pray with him (and I pray that you will also pray) that the Light of Christ will be spread far and wide due to the new hope and zeal that we receive in this blessed Easter season.  Thanks, Fr. Martin! God bless!

My wife and I are celebrating three wonderful years of marriage today!  I am most grateful to my God, who has helped sanctify me through my covenant bond to this beautiful woman.  I only pray that the Lord will allow my growth in holiness to continue because of the grace that comes from Marriage in general, and from my interaction with a holy woman specifically. I LOVE YOU, BABE!

During the past week of the liturgical year, three memorial celebrations of martyred Christians have taken place.  Tuesday marked the memorial of St. Blase ; Thursday, that of St. Agatha ; and Friday, the memorial of St. Paul Miki and his companions .  Although each of these saints were greatly distanced from each other by time and space, there certainly was a common theme in their lives.  That theme was their love of Jesus Christ and His Church, as well as their willingness to die for the truth contained therein.   (Representation of the crucifixion of St. Paul Miki and his companions in Japan, 1597.  Borrowed from website of The Living Water Community ) The word "martyr" is a Greek word that is easily translated into English as "witness."  Further,  the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines a martyr (in its modern, English usage) as "a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing t...