The Virtue of Virtues, first published in 1999, is coming out for its second printing. The
world at large, and the United States of America in particular, are at one of those pinnacle moments in time when how we, individually and collectively, make decisions with huge ramifications for the future of everyone. On what do we base our decisions on?
Virtues are the missing link in today’s society, and are the life support necessary to revive a near-death moral human experience.
The Virtue of Virtues is not only a seven lesson, sixth-grade CCD curriculum that has been taught in the Worcester Diocese, taught my me, once a month from October to December at the start of the CCD year. It can also be taught by parents one hour a night for one week, once a week for seven weeks, or once a month for seven months as parish programs have been taught. Parents have the opportunity to teach their children individually or in a comfortable setting with other parents and children.
The Virtue of Virtues, subtitled A CCD TEXTBOOK, is now available online at:
https://www.iuniverse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/809142-the-virtue-of-virtues
softcover ISBN #978-1-5320-9461-3 for $10.99
The eBook ISBN #978-1-5320-9462-0 for $3.99, is currently in production. I will let you know when it is ready.
Virtues have been replaced with other value systems, like greed, lust, anger, envy, excess, laziness, arrogance. These other value systems are also known as the seven deadly sins: covetousness, lust, anger, envy, gluttony, sloth and pride. We seem to be operating on automatic pilot, blinded by unbridled selfishness at the helm.
With the rise of these other value systems, virtues have slipped by the wayside. But is it possible to recover our senses before it is too late?
In the process of trying to be kinder to humanity, we tossed out the notion of sin, instead preferring to call our sins shortcomings to our personalities. Now we have psychological and emotional reasons for the way we are. Now our counseling centers have full waiting rooms rather than our confessionals full of repentant sinners.
How often have we tried to alleviate sin with a prescription drug?
Did we throw God out too when we threw out sin?
With all the help our counselors, doctors and nurses can offer us with failings of our body and mind, they are not equipped to help us with defects to our souls. Imagine a tripod holding us up; one leg is body, one leg is mind, and one leg is soul. Soul is built on virtues, that is how we build it back up.
Drugs are not always the answer when we feel bad. How is our walk with God?
What can help us to help ourselves?
Bring back the virtues. Faith, hope and love are the three theological virtues to begin with. All other virtues are based on these three. Get back to faith. Seek faith and do not stop looking to bolster your faith, faith in God. The world will tell you there is no God and there is no sin. Do not listen to these lies. Seek hope even when all seems lost. There is always hope. We are not made solely for this earth. We were made for heaven and for earth. Don’t settle for only half of the reality. Know there is more. Seek love. God is love. Seek love. The greatest of these three gifts from God is love. Seek and you will find.
Once you acquire faith, hope and love into your life; faith in God, hope in God and love of God, that is, you can begin adding the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. With these four cardinal virtues, you can begin to grow in charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, endurance, mildness, faith, modesty, restraint and chastity. By using these twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit, you can begin to answer the world’s problems in your corner of the world with ethics and virtue.
Virtues and moral courage are the solution for the world’s dishonesty, immorality, brazen corruption, and political unrest. It does not take complicated rocket science to resolve what has gone wrong with humanity’s development in the world today. It takes getting back to virtues and moral courage to do the right thing. Right still matters.
God Bless