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Hope Or: Striving for Heaven  As we saw in the previous lesson, Faith reveals to us God's supernatural plan for our lives. With faith we know that the ultimate purpose and fulfillment of each human person lies in the attainment of Heaven. Once we have this knowledge, it is time to begin working towards that objective. That's where the theological virtue of Hope enters the picture. Hope is the virtue whereby the individual strives for Heaven as something which is possible, but not yet guaranteed.  There are, then, three conditions needed for the virtue of hope: firstly, an active...

Faith God's Truth in Our Souls  Perhaps you remember how back when we were discussing the Cardinal Virtues, the first on the list was Prudence, because it was the virtue of knowledge, and knowledge must always come before all other activities. You have to know what to do before you can do it. The same is true on the supernatural level: you have to have a supernatural perspective before you can live a supernatural life. That supernatural perspective is faith.  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Faith as Belief  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The notion of faith is hard to get a handle on initially, so to start out...

How Does Pride Accumulate in Our Life? A Reflection on a Teaching by St. Bernard of Clairvaux By: Msgr. Charles PopeSo you think the idea of the “Twelve Steps” is new? Well, if you think you’ve got a new idea, go back and see how the Greeks put it, or in this case how the Medieval Latins put it. St. Bernard of Clairvaux identified twelve steps up the mountain of pride in his work Steps of Humility and Pride.In today’s post, we focus on the Twelve Steps of Pride. Tomorrow, we’ll tackle the Twelve Steps of Humility (from St. Benedict’s rule). ...

Faith-Hope-Charity From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, SimplifiedThe Three Theological Virtues (1812-1813) The three theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) allow man to share in God's nature. These virtues relate directly to God who directly infuses these three virtues into the soul where they make the believers capable of living as God's children and meriting eternal life.Believing What God Revealed (1814-1816) By faith, we believe in God, in all that he has revealed, and in all that the Church proposes for our belief. Faith leads to a total committal. "The righteous shall live by faith" (Rom 1:17).When faith...

24 Quotes About Purity That Every Young (& Old) Catholic Should Know   By John Ritchie     Impurity is plastered everywhere today: Movies, TV, billboards, music, entertainment, books, and magazines. We must fight back.  To that end the following collection of quotes -- many of which are authored by Doctors of the Church -- will provide you with the support and encouragement you need to stand your ground and fight for purity. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." -- Matthew 5:8   “Holy Purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic virtue, is a jewel so...

> Good Times for Dogs, Not So Good for Babies – A Reflection on the Perversity of Modern Culture By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn moral decline, both personal and cultural, the problem is that not only do we desire what is evil, we also stop desiring that which is good and holy. At the heart of desiring what is evil (or what is good, but to excess), are pride, greed, lust, and gluttony. Sloth and envy are more involved in no longer desiring what is good.Sloth is a kind or sorrow or aversion to the good things God offers to us, involving everything...

Why Did Christ Humble Himself in the Face of Evil? By: Msgr. Charles PopeEarlier this week we read the magnificent hymn from Philippians, which sings of the Humility of Jesus:Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,Who, though he was in the form of God,did not regard equality with Godsomething to be grasped.Rather, he emptied himself,taking the form of a slave,coming in human likeness;and, found human in appearance,he humbled himself,becoming obedient to death,even death on a cross (Phil 2:5-8).Why this incredible humility? The Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, had always enjoyed His Father’s love...

Prudence: Mother of All Virtues Fr. William Saunders Q: I keep hearing about the importance of virtue and being virtuous, but no one explains what virtue is.St. Paul in his Letter to the Philippians captured the idea of virtue and the living of a virtuous life: “My brothers, your thoughts should be wholly directed to all that is true, all that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous or worthy of praise” (4:8). With this in mind, the classic definition of virtue is a habit or firm disposition which inclines a person to do good and avoid evil....

The Eucharist and Chastityby Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.Our subject for tonight's conference is "The Eucharist and Chastity." It could just as well be, "The Necessity of the Eucharist for Chastity," or even, "There Can Be No Chastity Without the Eucharist."To understand how indispensable the Eucharist is to the practice of Christian chastity is to understand the meaning of Christianity. When Christ told us, "Without me, you can do nothing," He meant this to be taken literally. Without the constant help of His grace to enlighten our darkened minds and strengthen our weak wills, all the moral precepts of...

RUSH: Did you know, folks, that if you work hard, you can get ahead? Did you know that? I vaguely remember hearing some nutcases say that, but I didn't believe it. But, yeah, I was just watching the president. There's a thing going on at the White House called the college costs summit. And President Obama's there, along with the first lady, Moochelle. By the way, Saturday night at the White House, big gala, 50th birthday party for Moochelle. I've never heard of this at this kind of thing. Guests are being told to eat dinner before arriving, because this...

Take a look at the following list and tell me if anything strikes you: Prudence Justice Temperance Courage Faith Hope Charity Viewing these, the Seven Cardinal Virtues, anything make an impression? Okay, now try the Seven Heavenly Virtues of: Chastity Temperance Charity Diligence Patience Kindness Humility Anything? What strikes me is that equality is not among them. Scour great works, such as the Bible, and you won't find talk of equality. Not one bit -- that is, unless you consider The Communist Manifesto a great work. One thing about virtues -- which are defined as "good moral habits" -- is...

The Virtues   Virtues!  We all think we are virtuous, but so many people can’t name more than a few of them.  In the Catholic Church, there are three very distinct categories of virtues which we all should be praying to have more of.  The first category is known as the Cardinal Virtues, the second is known as the Theological Virtues, and the third is the Capital Virtues.  There are many others as well, but for the sake of this discussion, only these three types will be discussed. THE CARDINAL VIRTUES The Cardinal Virtues are four moral virtues that are the...

Faith is God’s gift to created persons who are entirely dependent on Him. The proper response to this gift is reverent obedience. Christian faith is characterized by a humble and reverent submission to what God has revealed. Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) has this to say: “’The obedience of faith’ (Rm 16:26; cf. Rm 1:5; 2 Cor 10: 5-6) ‘is to be given to God who reveals, an obedience by which man commits his whole self freely to God, offering the full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals,’ and freely assenting to the...

Follow Me… Apr 1st, 2012by Gary Zimak.  As Jesus passed on from there,He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. (Matthew 9:9)As we head into the final 2 weeks our Spiritual Exercises retreat, I just wanted to reach out and share a few thoughts. Today, with the celebration of Palm Sunday, we enter into the holiest week of the year. Over the next five days, on my nightly radio show, we’ll meditate on Our Lord’s Passion and death. As we do this, we’ll recognize...

Happiness: Ancient and Modern Concepts of Happiness PETER KREEFTMy topic today is Jesus' concept of happiness. And we must begin with the dullest and most necessary preliminary: defining our term. Ancient and Modern Concepts of HappinessMy topic today is Jesus' concept of happiness. And we must begin with the dullest and most necessary preliminary: defining our term. Nearly everyone, from Aristotle to Freud, agrees that we all seek happiness, and that we seek it as an end, not as a means. No one seeks happiness for any other reason. We argue about other things, but not about happiness. We may say,...

Benedict XVI Calls Christians to Rediscover Chastity Addresses US Bishops on Issues of Marriage, Sexuality By Kathleen NaabVATICAN CITY, MARCH 9, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says that chastity might be countercultural and challenging, but the entire Christian community should recover an appreciation for it.The Pope said this today in an address to a group of bishops from the midwest of the United States, who are in Rome for their five-yearly ad limina visit.The Holy Father's talk, which he presented as a continuation of reflections on "certain aspects of the evangelization of American culture," resonated in the social and political...

Featured Term (selected at random):CAPITAL VIRTUES The seven principal virtues that are contrary to the seven capital sins, namely: 1. humility (pride), 2. liberality (avarice), 3. chastity (lust), 4. meekness (anger), 5. temperance (gluttony), 6. brotherly love (envy), 7. diligence (sloth). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

.....[William]Bennett introduces The Book of Man:Readings on the Path to Manhood with tidings of oy. [snip] JamesFreemanClarke (1810–1888), an American theologian and essayist, limned the distinctions between true and false manliness. His essay is a particularly interesting glimpse of the 19th-century ideal, since 20th-century feminism has worked so hard to persuade us that the “patriarchy” taught men to be tyrants and emotional stiffs. "[Manliness]expresses the qualities which go to make a perfect man — truth, courage, conscience, freedom, energy, self-possession, self-control. But it does not exclude gentleness, tenderness, compassion, modesty. A man is not less manly, but more so, because...

Letting Your Conscience Be Your Guide (What Jiminy Cricket Didn’t Tell You) August 6th, 2010 by Gary Zimak“Always let your conscience be your guide” (Jiminy Cricket, from the movie Pinocchio, 1940). “One of the key pastoral problems facing us is the widespread misunderstanding of the role of conscience, whereby individual conscience and experience are exalted above or against Church teaching” (Pope John Paul II, Address to Bishops of New England, September 21, 1993).While most people would agree with Jiminy Cricket’s advice to Pinocchio, Pope John Paul II’s quote illustrates that, in certain cases, the recommendation could be problematic.  One look...

Featured Term (selected at random):JOB The chief character in what many critics consider the most beautifully written book in the Bible. The author is unknown. From internal evidence it is speculated that he was an Israelite who wrote between 600 and 400 B.C. The Book of Job is a profound philosophic discussion of human suffering, with Job and several of his friends taking turns offering possible solutions to the problem of good and evil. Their efforts to find an answer to determine Yahweh's reasons for permitting such indignities to afflict a faithful believer were fruitless. Job and his friends realized...