| A SHORT COURSE ON MORALITY V. “Virtue v's Vice" A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God. THE HUMAN VIRTUES Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good. The moral virtues are acquired by human effort and education. The Cardinal Virtues (play a pivotal role). Prudence disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it (not to be confused with timidity, fear or duplicity). It is the mother of all virtues. It guides the judgment of conscience. Justice = the constant and firm will to give their due to God (the "virtue of religion") and neighbor. Respecting rights. Fortitude ensures firmness in difficulties (temptations) and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It enables one to conquer fear. Temperance moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods (= a healthy discretion). It ensures the will's mastery over instincts. Human virtues are purified and elevated by divine grace. THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES The theological virtues adapt man's faculties for participation in the divine nature: for the theological virtues relate directly to God (relationship). By faith we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God." The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it. But "faith apart from works is dead". By hope we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. It keeps man from discouragement. By charity we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. “Charity is patient and kind, charity is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Charity does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Charity bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Charity is superior to all the virtues. Mary, the model of all virtues. THE GIFTS AND FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT The gifts of the Holy Spirit are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity." MERCY AND SIN The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners. "God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us." To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” - Conversion. THE DEFINITION OF SIN Sin is an offence against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbour caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. Sin is a personal act. Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. THE GRAVITY OF SIN: MORTAL AND VENIAL SIN Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God (= U Turn), who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter (Ten Commandments) and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent." Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it (detour). Capital sins = pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth. We have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them: - by participating directly and voluntarily in them; - by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them; - by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so; - by protecting evil-doers. THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (1803-1876) |
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