Posts Tagged ‘spiritual growth’
The Virtue of Justice: Key to Maximum Relationships
The Catholic spiritual life is ultimately about relationships. First is our relationship with God. We strive to cooperate with grace in order to grow toward perfection in our love for the Holy Trinity. Secondly, we are called to love our neighbor, which really means to love our brothers and sisters in the Family of God.…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues: Hope and the Bus Stop
The fruits of spiritual growth from the theological virtues, including the virtue of hope, are lived in this life. But the true object of our hope lies at the other end of death. Saint Paul tells us, “In the end, three things remain: faith, hope and love.” Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that of the theological…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – the Witness of Hope
In our quest for spiritual growth, we seek to become the best that we can be by growing in virtue, but our virtue must also moves us out of ourselves and unite us to God and neighbor in selfless love. The theological virtues give us the foundation for a real, lived relationship with God. The…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – Hope: Avoiding Despair and Presumption
As we’ve seen in this series, spiritual growth requires us to grow in the theological virtues, including the theological virtue of hope, which means to trust God. The alternative to hope is to fall into either despair or presumption. Despair robs the joy out of life. Presumption turns our trust into exploitation. The Error of…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues and Our Hope for Heaven
The theological virtues are necessary for spiritual growth. The theological virtue of hope is very important because trust is the first part of any relationship. While the theological virtue of hope means trust in any promise that God makes us, it is primarily trusting in God’s promise of Heaven. There are three conditions needed to…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – Hope Means Learning to Trust
Spiritual growth means growth in the theological virtues. Theological virtues are directly related to our relationship with God. God leads us to a relationship with him based on the way that human relationships work. Sure, he could just “zap” us in to intimacy with Him. But he chooses to approach us in ways that are…
Read MoreCardinal Virtues: Fortitude – the Courage to Face Evil
The cardinal virtues help us to form our character so that we live a fully human life. Fortitude is the cardinal virtue of standing up for what is right and good even in the face of difficulty or fear. In many ways, fortitude is the battle virtue. It is the part of spiritual growth that…
Read MoreDoes Spiritual Growth Mean Being Poor?
What exactly is the role of money in God’s plan for our spiritual growth? The Second Vatican Council warned us about the growing gap between our faith and our everyday lives. As disciples of Christ, we are called to sanctify every aspect of life for the authentic† development of human life and for the glory…
Read MoreSupernatural Moral Virtues: Fortitude
We saw how spiritual growth will require us to grow in the moral virtues, including the virtue of fortitude to tackle evil in the world. We also saw how the virtue of fortitude can help our spiritual growth by giving us the courage we need to look into our hearts and to change our lives.…
Read MoreSupernatural Temperance and the Joy of Steak
Spiritual growth includes becoming fully human, and that is why we need the virtue of natural temperance. Natural temperance is the virtue of balancing our desires for created goods according to our needs. As a natural virtue, temperance exercises our free will over our physical desires. It, therefore, leads to greater freedom and helps us…
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