Posted on 10/24/2011 5:21:38 PM PDT by Salvation
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Simplified
Paul asks the Philippians to see "all that is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely and gracious (Phil 4:8). Virtue is a firm and habitual disposition, by which a person strives firmly and regularly toward the good with all of his powers. "The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God" (St. Gregory of Nyssa).
Human virtues are firm, stable attitudes and dispositions which order the passions and guide conduct. They bring about self-mastery and joy. The moral virtues are acquired by human effort and dispose the person to God's love.
Scripture says that wisdom "teaches temperance and prudence, justice and fortitude" (Wis 8:7). These are the four cardinal virtues (meaning "hinge") around which the other virtues are grouped.
Prudence disposes man's practical reason to see what is good and to choose the right means. Prudence is "right reason in action" (St. Thomas Aquinas) guiding the person's judgment. By prudence, the person correctly applies moral teachings to individual cases without error and removes all doubts about good and evil.
Justice leads the person to give all that is due to God (the virtue of religion) and to others. Justice respects people's rights and establishes harmony. Scripture praises the conduct of the "Just Man." "You shall not be partial to the poor, nor defer to the rich" (Lev 19:15).
Fortitude makes the person firm in face of difficulties and constant in pursuing good. It helps man to resist temptations, to overcome obstacles, to face fear, and even to suffer persecution. "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (Jn 16:33).
Temperance moderates the powerful attraction of pleasures, guarantees the will's control over instincts, keeps desires honorable, and directs the passions to good. "Do not follow your base desires but restrain your appetites" (Sir 18:30). Believers should "live sober, upright and godly lives" (Titus 2:12). "Love is kept uncorrupted by temperance, undisturbed by fortitude, obedient to God by justice and discerning by prudence" (St. Augustine).
Divine grace elevates those human virtues which have been formed by repeated deliberate acts.
Because man is wounded by sin, he cannot easily maintain a moral balance. Through the sacraments and the help of the Holy Spirit, Christ offers the grace needed to persevere.
Teaching the Virtues (includes The Lessons of 9/11)
WHAT ARE THE MARYLIKE STANDARDS? (Modesty)
Morality of the Passions [Ecumenical]
Sources of Morality [Ecumenical]
When attending Mass becomes an occasion of sin [Lack of modesty]
Vatican Cardinal Burke: In today’s society ‘morality has ceased to exist’
Heaven and the love of neighbour [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Virtue of Prudence [Michael Voris video]
Back-to-School Virtues: Three qualities that help your child succeed in class and in life
How to Make All Our Conversations Virtuous [Ecumenical]
Advent -- A Season of Hope
Modesty En Vogue [Another one of the virtues]"
Prudence: Mother of All Virtues
The Virtue of Confidence
Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?
Cardinal Virtues: Obama and the Real American Infrastructure – Part One
Cardinal Virtues: Obama and the Real American Infrastructure — Part Two
Morality is Habit-Forming: The Cardinal Virtues
The Cross Exemplifies Every Virtue [St. Thomas Aquinas]
Living the Virtue of Humility
Whenever man deliberately chooses, he is the "father of his acts." These freely chosen acts can be morally evaluated as good or evil.
Wonderful. Thank you.
Thanks, Salvation. BTTT!
Two points:
(1) Our non-Catholic friends would side with Tertullian when he asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” while Catholics tend to side with Justin Martyr and think that the good scribe brings even treasures of Athens out of his treasure house.
To Catholics, this makes good sense and is helpful as we examine our moral life and hold it up to God for his repair.
I fear to many it will seem alien and useless. It’s too bad. If God can anoint Cyrus, certainly He can make something of Aristotle and Plato.
(2) I think it is good (I am stealing from Lewis) to avoid thinking of the virtues as distinct entities. I suggest modes of functioning instead.
How many of us have behaved imprudently, or intemperately, or even unfairly because we lacked the courage to resist “peer pressure”?
How often is what looks like courage actually recklessness, because the good habit of resisting fear is not balanced by prudence?
And so on.
For lagniappe: I propose that temperance is the musical virtue.
Bach’s “Well Tempered Clavier” is a collection of pieces written for every possible key on the same instrument. Such an instrument has to be tuned logarithmically rather than in the Pythagorean system of “small, whole number ratios.” It is “well tempered”.
In music, especially choral music, one must be on pitch, not too fast, not too slow, not too loud, not too soft. And even, in a funny way and remembering Pythagoras, not too precise.
I forget under which virtue humility is classified. But it could be temperance, because to sing in a choir is to subordinate one’s voice to the good of the whole. YOU might possibly know exactly how to make this piece of music show its best features. But you are in a chorus, and if the performance is to succeed, you must be humble and trust that God will show the music at its best at a time that suits Him.
(Humility fascinates me, probably because I lack it so gravely. Pray for me.)
It may well be so, therefore, that the “arts” which everyone despises these days, are more important than we know and that to teach our children to sing is to lay the foundation for a cardinal virtue.
Wonder post.
I think the sacred art and sacred music is on the way back, though. It will lead us all back to reverence and humility.
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