In today’s Gospel Jesus speaks about the faithful, diligent, prudent, and wise servant. A servant who has made him or herself ready for the Lord’s return or call home. St. Peter the man who is usually not afraid to speak up at this point is thinking, “Who is the Lord talking about, me or everyone?” He asks this question for the simple reason of finding out, “Am I a faithful servant, or do I still need to become one?” Peter in essence asked this question for all of us as well, because deep down inside we also want to know, “Are we the good and faithful servants that Jesus is talking about?”
The answer to the question needs to be answered by the individual. We are asked to look deep down inside of ourselves and examine our lives and ask, “Are we the good and faithful servant, who is ready to welcome the master and to welcome Him at any time, day or night?” No one is perfect and all of us strive to become the best persons that we can become, but all of us as Christians should at least with a good morale assurance be able to say that we are good Christians and that we are living in God’s grace. There is the old school Catholic mentality of “woes me, a sinner, God have mercy on my soul.” That kind of thinking is fine when we are convicted of sin, but our general disposition should be one of confidence and happiness, “We are redeemed!” Redeemed people do not walk around with sunken faces and dispositions.
At this point we could ask another question about ourselves, “How do we become the good and faithful servant or how do I become a better one?” The simple answer is to live the virtues. An important prerequisite to the virtues obviously is grace, without God’s favor and free gift of salvation no one can please God or if we fell back into grave sin, “All our good deeds (would be) . . . like polluted rags” (Is. 64:5; emphasis mine). Once this gift, which we have received in baptism, is realized in our own lives and our disposition is one of faith we must strive to attain holiness or the virtuous life, it is the only way to achieve in becoming “That good and faithful servant.”
Attending mass is great, saying a prayer once in a while is nice, going to confession once a year is better than nothing, but it can’t just be that. The mass, the sacraments, our prayer life must take such root that all those celebrations and moments of grace permeate our whole lives. How can this be done?
The church helps us to achieve the virtuous life by giving us the cardinal and theological virtues as guides to become and to live holy and saintly lives.
So, today we will have a CCD review for all of us on the cardinal virtues and next time I am here we will discuss the theological virtues. Today will be part one, next week or next time will be part two. Otherwise I would have you here for hours building up your virtue of patience.
First we must understand what virtue means. Aristotle defined virtue as living within the mean. What he meant by this is that we are living in the middle between what is excessive and what is deficient, for example, the excess of courage would be recklessness and the deficiency of courage would be cowardice. Sometimes people mistake what Aristotle meant by living in the middle or the mean by understanding it to mean a little bit of vice mixed with a little bit of virtue, therefore being in the middle, that was not his understanding nor the proper understanding of virtue.
As Christians we are asked to embrace and live the cardinal virtues, cardinal since they are like the hinges of life or simply very important. The four cardinal virtues are courage, temperance, fortitude, and prudence.
Courage is the virtue that gives one the ability to face fear and uncertainty, to be able to persevere, and not be afraid. Courage for Christians would consist in many things, but most importantly in being courageous to live out the Gospel even in the face of not being accepted. For instance, at work someone makes a derogatory remark about Christianity, if I blow up at that person I have become excessive, i.e. reckless, if I back away and say nothing I am deficient, i.e. cowardly, but if I speak up for Christ reasonably, intelligibly, and with compassion than I am courageous.
Temperance is the virtue of self control and moderation. For Christians this would mean that we never allow anything to control us, i.e. money, food, drink, material things, etc. For instance, when we go to a party if we are a sour-puss and don’t get involved and just sulk in the corner then we are miserable persons, if we are overwhelming, hog attention, become too loud, then we are show offs, but if we strike a moderate level then we are simply nice and happy people.
Prudence is the virtue that helps us to know what to say, when to say something, and how to say something, or not say anything at all. For instance, I do not agree with my boss or superior and I go in and tell him or her that they are a terrible boss and that they do not know what they are doing then I am foolish - if not fired. If I never say anything than I am cowardly, but if I approach my superior with respect, in private, and temper my objections with a positive attitude then I am as Jesus would say, “Crafty as a serpent, but gentle as a dove”, hence hitting the mean - being prudent.
Justice is the virtue that demands we give to each and every person their proper due, which is none other than the respect of their person, i.e. the rights and needs of others. For instance if I take the law into my own hands and become a vigilante and hunt down criminals I have taken away their right to defend themselves in the court of law, again I have become a vigilante. If I witness a crime and do nothing about it then I have become passive to the point of becoming self centered and detached from society. What justice demands is that I always look to protect the needs and rights of others, but to do so within the moral law and obviously within civil law.
If you notice the extremes are considered vice and the middle is considered as virtue. The cardinal virtues for Christians are very important, since God gives us the grace to live them we must examine ourselves each and every day to make sure that we are shining examples of these virtues. It cannot be just at mass, the mass must be alive in us when we leave these doors. Holiness and the virtuous life can be achieved, God helps us in every moment, the question which remains is, “How much do we want it?”
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