Why Virtues are the Secret to Transforming Your Life

Could the secret to the life transformation you seek lie in the depths of ancient Catholic teaching?

Yes! The ancient Catholic teaching on good moral habits can be life-changing! Character development is a very important part of Catholic spiritual growth – becoming who God created us to be. None of us are really satisfied with who we have become. We all know we can be better than we are. But how?

The secret to transforming our lives lies in the depths of ancient Catholic teachings, in something called virtues.

When I ask Catholic adults what they need to be happy and to grow in faith, I get responses like

• I need to follow God’s will rather than allowing myself to be ruled by my feelings.
• To live more simply and mindfully
• Develop the virtue of temperance
• Working on being humble in all that I do and giving everything I do back to God, as I am nothing with out him.
• Trying to make my Faith deep strong, inflexible and unwavering so if need be to die for it.
• Patience, forgiveness, less materialistic needs.
• Patience
• More patience with the spiritual changes taking place around me.
• Be more embracing of others

We don’t hear much about virtue today, not even in Catholic learning circles. We hear a lot about “Catholic values” instead. A value is simply something that you deem important. It’s a priority. Values are good and fine. They help us to stay true to ourselves, to live lives of integrity. But what they cannot do is raise us above ourselves and inspire us to reach for more.

Moral virtue is a good habit that affects our character. It is the tendency to embrace what is truly and objectively good for us, what fulfills our potential and purpose. The source of goodness in virtue lies outside of ourselves – beyond us. Therefore, they represent a good that we can aspire to.

Natural Virtues

The idea of natural virtue predates what would properly be called Catholic thought. You can find references to virtue in ancient Jewish and Greek texts, for example. That’s because they originate in the natural moral law. In other words, they indicate how we can become more human and fulfill our human potential. When we feel that we are weak in our personal character, we are sensing that we are lacking these human habits.

These good habits that help us to live more fully human lives are categorized by what they do for us and by how we attain them. Intellectual virtues help us to grow in our ability to know the truth. Studiousness, intellectual humility, mental focus, and curiosity are some examples. These qualities of our character equip us to seek the truth, to persevere through any confusion and intellectual difficulty, and to recognize the truth when we find it. Fully human life consists in strengthening the will as well as the intellect. The will is our ability to choose goodness. Moral virtues help us to embrace what is truly good. Some examples are temperance, fortitude, justice, chastity, patience, perseverance, and modesty. These qualities encourage us to seek what is truly good for us, to persevere in pursuing the good even through difficulty, and to choose what is good even when we may be tempted to choose an inferior good instead.

Supernatural and Natural

When we examine our relationship with God, we may likewise feel that we are not quite where we would like to be. The supernatural virtues draw us beyond ourselves into the divine life of God. While the term “natural” refers to those habits that make our human life more fulfilling, “supernatural” refers to habits that can make our life glorious. The term “supernatural” always refers to God in Catholic theology. In this case, we’re talking about exercises of grace that help us to participate in the Divine Life. So a supernatural intellectual virtue equips us to grow in intimacy with God (to know Him more deeply) and a supernatural moral virtue empowers us to love Him more and to live in His goodness.

So where does one begin on the road to self-improvement? Fortunately for us, our ancient Catholic teaching tells us exactly where to begin. There are seven key starting points that are key to everything.

Keys to Human Perfection

The word “cardinal” means “hinge.” A cardinal in the Church is a bishop who holds a “hinge” position. In other words, if that bishop does his job well, other bishops are better able to do their jobs. Likewise, the Cardinal Virtues are the four key good natural moral habits that all others “hinge” on: prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice. So, if we can strengthen these four we pave the way to mastering the others as well. For example, temperance is self-control that tends toward a balance of our desires for created goods and pleasures. If we want to develop self-control over our sexual desires, a great place to start is to exercise self-control over our other desires, perhaps desires that we find easier to control. If I can say “no” to that second piece of dessert for the sake of my health, I will be strengthening my ability to say “no” to sinful relationships for the sake of my vocation to marriage.

Keys to the Divine Life

The three theological virtues are even more strongly related to Catholic spiritual growth. They give us a direct relationship with God. They make knowing and loving God possible. Therefore faith, hope, and charity are the source of our supernatural life. Faith is trust that what God has revealed about Himself is true, and it leads to intimacy with God. Hope is trust that God will be true to His promises and it leads to trust in God. Charity is participation in the divine love shared between the members of the Holy Trinity. It means first to love God, and then to love others with the love of God. Once you fully understand the glories of living the divine life, that statement will send shivers down your spine. Strengthening faith, hope, and charity opens the door for us to a world of beauty and goodness beyond our imagination.

But How Do We Get There?

The Surprising Secret to Growing in Virtue

It won’t surprise you, I’m sure, to hear that growing in virtue is a matter of hard work and discipline. But you’ve heard the saying, “Work smarter not harder,” right? Well, that principle can be applied to growing in virtue as well! No, there are no shortcuts to developing our character. But there’s a way to make the work seem a lot easier – a way that certainly seems like a shortcut.

So again I invite you to join me on the journey! And this will be a journey for me too. Frankly, I stink at growing in virtue. I am surrounded by friends who have more self-discipline and self-control than I’ll ever have. However, I have had some increasing success. The surprising secret to developing virtue is to do it through practical practices. So, to grow in temperance (the virtue of balancing our desires for physical pleasures), I went on a diet, started counting calories, and dedicated myself to 30 minutes of exercise a day. These practical, measurable activities have really paid off! I slowly find my self-control growing. Of course, as I write this it’s just past the Christmas and New Year’s festivities after I’ve gotten back into the habit of eating cookies and candy every day. But besides that, I’m doing really well!

What To Do Next

The key to changing any behavior – especially establishing and growing in virtue – is to systematize your behavior into habit formation. From the Abbey can teach you how to build the key spiritual habits that make up a “lay rule of life.” I want to invite you to take advantage of the opportunity below to dig more deeply into your spiritual life with me. Learn your faith with educational articles and videos. Live your faith with our online spirituality program that teaches these spiritual virtues. Join us today!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.