The Life of Virtue

On Friday, Pope Benedict XVI will no longer be the supreme pastor of the Church.  The Church and I will move forward, but we will never forget the blessings of having been part of the flock led by this spiritual shepherd.  So many individuals have been influenced and formed greatly by this holy and erudite man.  It has been a pleasure to hear his prayers and spiritual direction as well as to read his catechetical and theological works.  He has been a teacher, mentor, and something of a spiritual grandfather to many, including myself. Derek & his wife shake hands with Pope Benedict XVI (Feb. 22, 2006) It was seven years ago today that I returned from my honeymoon and pilgrimage to Italy.  During those travels, I had the great fortune to attend a papal audience, to look into the eyes of Pope Benedict XVI, and to shake his hand.  When my wife and I clasped our hands with his, we felt as though we were communicating with him.  Silently, underne...

Everyone is well aware that Lent is here.  After all, we know its presence because national fast food chains begin serving their version of the fish sandwich solely during this season.  Our restaurant economy seizes every opportunity to fill us in spite of our dietary proscriptions! From another angle, however, Lent is about lots more than simply not eating meat.  Lent is the liturgical season in which the Church urges us to grow in faith.  This post, then, is to share the same thoughts that I gave at our parish's RCIA gathering this past Sunday morning.  The point that I made to inquirers was that faith affects and effects one's life, sometimes in dramatic ways. I had six primary points.  Each of these points was to remind the listeners of things they may have forgotten, and to inspire that group to work toward their redemption and eternal destination.  Perhaps they'll be of benefit to readers, too. First, faith is tested by suffering....

Several variant strands of my prayer life and academic life have converged today.  In a way that only He is able, God has knocked at the door of my heart.  He has told me of His desire to be fully present in me, thereby filling me with hope. A passage from the First Letter of Saint John was placed before my eyes early this morning. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 Jn 1:8-10). The passage roused a number of questions and thoughts within.  Am I guilty of deceiving myself and making Christ a liar?  Do I refuse to acknowledge certain aspects of my life or certain actions that are, indeed, sinful?  Have I prayed for the humility to confess every wrong that I have committed, or every right that I have omitted?...

Anyone who knows me knows well that I am not a good sufferer.  I do not fast well, I do not sacrifice well, and I am prone to be grumpy when asked/required to do so.  The sacrificial and penitential times of the year, Advent and especially Lent, are particularly rough. Over the past several days, I have been called by the Lord to engage in certain small sacrifices for a number of reasons.  As usual, I have complained along the way.  I have brooded over the actions I cannot take or the food I cannot eat. Yet, one thing was made abundantly clear to me last night.  It is better for me to make smaller sacrifices, involving less significant things and shorter amounts of time, with greater charity.  While the thing sacrificed, whether it is eating or the iPhone, is important; the disposition of my heart is far more important. In my efforts to grow in the virtues of patience and fasting, I should focus first on undertaking those sacrifices that I can make jo...

I found myself deeply identifying with the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, from Sunday's Gospel reading .  Too often, I have been wooed by the concerns and frustrations of this world.  Constantly I am tempted to enter the modern-day "Jericho" of pride, envy, greed, anger, or lust. The solution?  To call out as Bartimaeus did, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me" (Mk. 10:48, RSV)!  I must recognize that I am powerless against the forces of this world that cause spiritual blindness in me.  I must remember that He is the source of my existence, and cause of my flourishing.  Without His mercy and blessings, I would certainly find myself in a constant cycle of sin, devolving to spiritual destruction. Alas, that doesn't have to be.  Like Bartimaeus, I have the opportunity to throw off the mantle of sinful oppression that the enemy would have me wear (cf. Mk. 10:50).  Instead of being weighed down and hindered by those deadly sins, I can have the free...

A friend of mine once gave me a great piece of advice for fruitful prayer.  "Pray from the place where you're weakest, and where the waves and winds of the storm are crashing on top of you," he said. I've begun to feel a bit overwhelmed with life recently.  There are family responsibilities, growing children who need lots of attention, work duties, studies, things around the house that need to be fixed, financial questions, and on and on.  It seems to be a perpetual barrage of hurricane-level winds and tsunami-like waves.  So, it is good for me to take my friend's advice for prayer. As I took that piece of advice this morning, God whispered another beautiful truth into my ear: the place of frustration is also the place of joy and peace.  What, God?  Surely, that's backwards...at least it is to my frail and feeble human brain.  This one would require some reflection. Here's how it works.  God allows some of the responsibilities, questions, ...

[This post appeared originally on my full site, which is now no longer in operation, in November 2012.] It seems that more should be written about a saint from whom we can learn so many lessons in virtue.  Yet that is not the case with St. Martin de Porres, from whom we have much to learn about humility, detachment, fasting, justice, and charity.  The website of the St. Martin de Porres Shrine and Institute (located in my own diocese; a wonderful initiative with a beautiful chapel) offers a mere four paragraphs of biographical information, while other sites ( here , here , and here ) devote no more than 10 sentences to this exemplar of heroic virtue.  Surely, Brother Martin, who was so humble in this life, finds that to be a fitting scenario even after his death. From the very earliest days of his life, he embraced his lowly situation.  He desired to do nothing more than glorify the Creator by serving creatures.  He reached out to slaves, orphan...