Posts Tagged ‘virtues’
Growing in the Theological Virtues – Avoid Four Deadly Foundational Errors of Faith
Sometimes the best way to think about growing in a virtue, including the theological virtues, is to consider the vices that oppose it. You do want to want a deep relationship with God, don’t you? Then make sure to root out any of these errors of faith in your life! The vices against the theological…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – The Virtue of Hope Gives You Peace
The theological virtues are the foundation of a good relationship with God. Since any human relationship starts with trust, that’s the way that God starts us out on the path to having a deeper relationship with him. The theological virtue of hope means to trust that God will be true to his promises. Truly trusting…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – Trust Before Faith?
Just because the Hebrew people had grown in trust enough to know God more intimately through Moses, the lessons in growing in trust were far from over. In fact, one of the most noted parts of the Exodus story is how fickle the Hebrew people were. They whined in the desert after being rescued from…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues with Moses – Faith
Just as God uses the theological virtues to lead us through spiritual growth in a way that harmonizes with human nature, he also led humankind through salvation history in the same way. We saw how God taught Abram to trust him, instilling salvation history in the virtue of hope. It may surprise you to realize…
Read MoreThe Virtue of Justice: Legal Justice Beyond Duty to Love
If the virtue of distributive justice gives us a venue for spiritual growth, the virtue of legal justice offers a great opportunity as well. Legal justice is the dimension of the virtue of justice that calls each member of society to do their duties to society.
Read MoreThe Virtue of Justice: Distributive Justice and the Good of Society
It may seem on first glance that commutative justice is the only form of the virtue of justice that would contribute to spiritual growth. But an important part of human life is living as a member of society. And an important part of being a disciple of Christ is to work for the perfection of…
Read MoreThe Virtue of Justice is the Foundation of Relationship
Growth in the virtue of justice begins with our relationships with the people closest to us. It is the constant habit of giving to each person what is owed. Commutative justice is a fancy word for exercising this virtue between individual persons. The simplest form of commutative justice deals with the payment of debts. But…
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 More