We are now in the season of Lent. With that we use this time of penance to orient our path towards the Kingdom of Heaven. This pursuit does not require anything that is too difficult for us to achieve, but rather a pursuit of holiness in our everyday life. This is something which is doable, but do we want it to be so? If we are to be holy in our everyday life then we in return must come to practice virtue.
As a reminder the seven virtues are chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. These seven virtues counteract the seven deadly sins of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. In the seven months which lay ahead it is my hope to delve further into each of these seven virtues.
From Saint Paul’s 1st Epistle to the Corinthians: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receive the the prize. So run that you may obtain. And every one that strove that for the mastery refrained himself from all things. And they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown: but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air. But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.”
This passage puts the importance of virtue into context. We are called to run the race of faith and if we are to do so we must come to appreciate the virtues and apply them to our daily life. We must start somewhere and from there we must persevere in there practice instead of so easily losing hope, giving up, and returning to our old way of life. In the words of Saint Josemaria Escriva: “Strengthen your faith; fill yourself with hope; and make constant acts of Love, even though you can feel them only on your lips.”
This is the starting point that we must obtain. From this point we should move forth each day and in the words of Saint Josemaria Escriva: “Be firm. Be virile. Be a man. And then... be a saint.” Sanctity cannot be achieved in a day, rather it is something that we must work at. Sadly, there are many who do not see this need and who have not felt this call be made manifest in their life. Hopefully each of us will allow ourself to be a conduit for God’s grace. If we are to do this we must find ways to practice virtue in order to push vice out of our life.
From Saint Josemaria Escriva we are told: “With your life of piety you will learn how to practice the virtues proper to your condition as son of God, as a Christian. And together with those virtues you will acquire a whole range of spiritual values which seem small but are reall very great. They are like shining precious stones, and we must gather them along the way and then take them up to the foot of God’s Throne in service of our fellow men: simplicity, cheerfulness, loyalty, peace, small denunciations, services which pass unnoticed, the faithful fulfillment of duty, kindness.”
