Pastor’s Corner – August 20

Pastor’s Corner – August 20

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

We have all heard about the importance of being a virtuous person.  As we go about our daily lives it would be helpful for us to understand what a virtue is and how it helps us in our daily lives to be Holy.  At times throughout the coming months I will discuss “The Virtues” and how they apply to our daily lives.

 In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1803) it states: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

 A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good.  It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself.  The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions.

 The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.”

 WOW!  Virtues sound like something we are all in need of in our lives.  When we look at the definition above we see that a virtue is a habit.  It is something that we must work at each day in order to develop so that we choose to do good.  A virtue is the perfection of that which is good.  But some virtues can also be infused into our souls by God in order that we act like His children.

  Virtues are divided into two categories:

 ·    Human or as we more commonly refer to them – The Cardinal Virtues.  The Cardinal Virtues help us develop habits to freely choose a deliberate act which is toward the good.  When faced with a choice between doing something good or doing something evil, the Cardinal Virtues direct us to the good.  The Cardinal Virtues are prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.  St Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas regarded these virtues as the chief dispositions the moral person should acquire for his or her character.

 ·    Theological Virtues relate directly to God.  They dispose us to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity and are the foundation of Christian moral life.  They make us capable of acting as God’s children and merit eternal life.  The Theological Virtues are faith, hope and charity. 

 And so a virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. The moral virtues are acquired through human effort aided by God’s grace; the theological virtues are gifts of God.

 Let us pray each day for the grace to be virtuous.

 Fr. David