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November 13, 2022: Living Lives of Virtue
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All virtues find their source in the Lord. Some are much easier to live than others. I believe we all can agree with this statement. For example, it’s not difficult to be gentle with a newborn baby. When we hold the beautiful gift of a child in our arms, like when Mary and Joseph held Jesus in the stable for the first time, our good instincts tell us we are to live the virtue of gentleness. We do not hold a newborn like a football, or play catch with him/her like a baseball around the yard. Although, I know of one dad who, when playing around a bit too hard with his young son one time with genuine love, tossed him during a game they were playing in the backyard, and ended up breaking his son’s arm. It was purely unintentional. But where there’s a lack of gentleness where there should be some, such things can happen.
Another virtue that’s somewhat easy to live in our lives is that of kindness. Who doesn’t want to be kind to others who are kind to us? It’s so easy to return the favor of kindness, putting a smile on the face of God while we’re at it. Or being kind to an animal that desires unconditional love from us? Kindness is one of the virtues that makes our world a better place. Actually, all virtues make our world a better place, but some of them are much harder to implement. But kindness resides near the top of our hearts more than other virtues that reside near the bottom of our tickers because of their difficult nature, if you will. Some virtues rise naturally, while others are likely to be pushed down inside us unnaturally. But all virtues should be natural for us to share. However, this is easier said than done, as we know.
One more easy virtue to live and pass on to others is that of empathy. At least it should be easy. How can we not empathize with a grieving family who has lost a loved one? Or with an orphan? Or with a person we know who has lost their employment? Or how about a person who is unfairly treated by someone else who has authority over them? Or another person who is gravely ill? We can place ourselves in their respective situations, whatever the struggle may be, and empathize with what they address in their lives. We may not know the struggle firsthand, such as a person fighting against the dreaded cancer. We may not be able to empathize on the deepest level. But we all know what illness or disease will and can do to any of us. Thus, it should be easy for any and every Christian to walk in the shoes to some degree of a person who is forced to look death in the eye. How any person cannot empathize with certain difficult human situations we encounter in our lives seems rather empty and void. Even cold and heartless.
Some virtues are easier to live out than others, for whatever the reasons may be. With that truth put to paper, how about if we address a few of the more difficult virtues that challenge us in our Catholic faith. For example, charity. In the sense of giving. Charity is a word used in our faith and in Scripture that can be lived in more than one way. Charity is interchangeable with love. There are a few opening prayers for Mass in the Roman Missal (the book on the altar), and other parts of the Mass such as the Preface that precedes the Eucharistic Prayer, where the virtue of charity is joined in harmony with faith and hope. We all know the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. But in a few places, the Church will use the words faith, hope, and charity. Charity, in this usage, means love. Which may or may not be easy for us, depending on the circumstances. Sharing love with others is much easier with certain people than with others. Such is our fallen nature. Thus, charity as love can be seen as one of those middle virtues, if you will, where sometimes it’s easy to live out, and other times not so easy.
Either way, the more difficult form of charity, for many folks anyway, is what most of us think when we hear this word. Charity as giving of our monetary means. This happens each Sunday in our weekly collection, as it does in every Church and every denomination. Even though the wider and more complete understanding of charity in this sense concerns time, talent, and treasure, and not treasure alone, in America, with our abundance, our stock market, 401(k) plans, and savings and checking accounts, we’re more likely to think of charity in ways of money. A topic that gets everyone’s attention.
If you haven’t noticed by now, I do not preach much on money. If the Gospel and other readings lead to this theme, then it will be presented to your ears for further reflection. But there are too many other themes in Scripture each week that directly and presently touch on our lives that need to be addressed for the good of our souls. So, when I speak on financial issues, such as Visitation House and supporting this ministry of life established in Worcester for the good of pregnant mothers and their expectant children, then it must be spoken to challenge all of us to consider participating in a program that holds sacred to the truth that all life is precious in God’s eyes. There’s the old saying that some of us, when we remove our wallets from the back pocket or pocketbook, that we need to remove the dust, cobwebs, and spiders living in there before we actually reach the credit card or dollar bills, if there are any to be had. This should not be so for Christians. We are called to support good programs that are consistent with our faith, and not programs that fly in the face of God’s commandments. Financially supporting Visitation House over Planned Parenthood is a no-brainer. The first organization holds life to be sacred; the latter destroys life with abandon. So, not only is charity a good virtue in our faith lives, but directing our charity to organizations that represent and stand up for God’s ways, the ways of love and care, are decisions to be made with wisdom and a loving heart.
Another difficult, in some cases seemingly impossible virtue to live in our lives of faith, is forgiveness. A sibling to mercy. Most people do battle with the practice of this virtue. Whenever we get hurt, justified or not, the thought of forgiving the offender will make many folks angry, doubling down on not only the refusal of one virtue, but allowing one vice to rule our hearts and minds.
I’m blessed to know a few people, very few, who find the practice of forgiveness to appear easy for them. This is probably not the case. But, they forgive rather quickly and totally, allowing themselves the ability to move on and live their faith in Christ Jesus more readily. The inability to forgive, meaning never, will bring our faith in Jesus to some lower point where we have no business living. A good question to reflect on is, “When’s the last time we forgave someone of some offense? Can we remember when it was?” If we cannot remember, then we have some work to do and grace to pray for. It seems to me that most husbands and wives need this virtue on a daily basis.
Maybe one issue with forgiveness is that Jesus made it look and sound too easy while he hung dying on his Cross. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” “Really? Seriously, Jesus? Why didn’t you say from the Cross, ‘Father, please smash them in the heads and wipe them off the face of the earth?’ You just ruined my difficulty of forgiving someone else and made it look like it’s an easy virtue to practice! You’re going to easily forgive these wretched men who put you up there with deep-seated anger in their hearts? Well, most of humanity doesn’t think forgiveness is as easy as you made it look at the moment of your death. We’ll have to try it out, I guess. I know one thing for certain; if we choose to move forgiveness from being a near impossible virtue, to a practice much closer to the top of our hearts, our world would be a much more joyful, loving, respectful, happy, and kinder place to live.” Such is the transforming power of one virtue when transferred from hard to easier, but still not easy.
There are other virtues that may be placed into the difficult category to practice in our daily living. Nowadays the virtue of holiness is under constant attack in a gravely secular world. At some point, I pray we come to our common senses and embrace holiness if for no other reason than it makes us more God-like, Who is the essence and source of holiness. We are all children of God, and living the joy of holiness reflects this as much, if not more, than other virtues. The problem here is we’re bombarded by a culture of profanation, meaning, a culture that raises up unholy acts and unholy ways, be it through technology, in person, or otherwise. In too many respects the western world has returned to the nastiness of the Roman Empire and not knowing or living for the true God. It is only through our personal example that this can be transformed for the better.
Virtues are a blessing. The more we practice them, the more we reflect the love of God in our lives. Some are easier than others, no doubt. But the more difficult ones have the power to take a crooked world and make it straighter. I’m all for a straighter world.
PENANCE
Penance, also called penitence or repentance, is a dimension of conversion as a dynamic of Christian spirituality. Specifically, it is an attitude or virtue motivating Christians to resist evil and sin and to undo the harm done by sin. Because of the ecclesial character of Christian spirituality, the virtue of penance is closely related to the liturgical celebration of the sacrament.
Spiritual writers of the past often linked the virtue of penance with the virtues of justice (obligations to God) and charity (responsibilities to neighbor). Contemporary writers retain these links but are more likely to deal with social responsibilities as well as reverence toward God.
The call to conversion is prominent in the Christian Scriptures. It is central in the preaching of Jesus, as it had been in John the Baptist’s and continued to be in that of the apostles. In time, the scriptural understanding of “conversion” was reduced to “penance.” The virtue was generally treated individualistically in terms of hatred of sin and atonement for sin. Its practice was often identified with mortification as a means of atoning for one's past sins - doing penance - and the regular celebration of the sacrament in the form of private confession….
Spirituality and spiritual direction have often emphasized penance as sorrow or contrition for one’s sins and the effort to atone for them (expiation, satisfaction, reparation), with both motivated by justice (what is due to God and God's punishment of sin) and charity (toward ourselves and others). Works of penance were then often understood as self-purification and self-punishment to satisfy God's justice and escape punishment in purgatory. From The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality