Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Lively Virtues
The Seven Deadly Sins are not particular sins at all. Rather, they are vices – or patterns of immoral choices. Most of them are the abuse of something that is otherwise good. They are defined by the phrase “inordinate desire,” meaning a desire that is “out of order” with human health, happiness and holiness.
The Seven Deadly Sins Defined
Vainglory (sometimes called pride) is the inordinate desire for human praise – it is good and healthy to accept complements from others, but vainglory drives us to seek approval and praise no matter what the cost. The word “vain” in this term means that the glory sought is not truly earned, so it is “empty” praise.
Gluttony is an inordinate desire for food – food is good but gluttony is the habit of making food into the most important good.
Lust is an ordinate desire for sexual pleasure – sex is good, but lust is the habit of making the pleasure more important than human dignity.
Anger as one of the seven deadly sins (not to be confused with the emotion of anger) is an inordinate desire for revenge – an ordinary desire for revenge would be called “justice.” Anger makes revenge an end in itself rather than a means to righting a wrong and leading others to conversion.
Sloth is an inordinate aversion to the effort involved in getting a good – a certain aversion to effort helps us find proportion, realizing that not every good is worth pouring ourselves out for but sloth is the habit of avoiding all effort no matter what the good is.
Envy is the only one of the seven deadly sins that is not defined as an inordinate desire. Envy is to have sorrow over the good that happens to someone else. If we recall that love means to choose what is good for another person, even to the point of putting their good before our own, we see that envy is very much the opposite of love. So there is no level of envy that would be acceptable.
Combatting the Seven Deadly Sins
So how do we combat these seven deadly sins in our lives? Father Robert Barron teaches about seven virtues that combat these seven deadly tendencies. He takes these virtues from the literary writings of Dante. The program is therefore entertaining as well as enlightening. But I highly recommend reflecting on this program as an examination of conscience and deciding which of these virtues you need to combat whichever of the seven deadly sins you struggle with.
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