Most Important Virtues to Get to Heaven

Most Important Virtues to Get to Heaven - Explaining the Faith w/Fr. Chris Alar

Estimated read time: 1:20

Summary

In his talk, Fr. Chris Alar explores the essential virtues that guide people towards heaven. Speaking from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy, Fr. Chris emphasizes the transition from merely knowing one's faith to actively living it. The discussion focuses on the cardinal and theological virtues, with a special emphasis on humility as the essential binding virtue. Fr. Chris suggests that the virtues are the building blocks necessary for developing a good character and ultimately achieving eternal union with God. He provides insights into how these virtues can be cultivated and practiced in daily life, illustrating their significance both on Earth and in heaven.

Highlights

Fr. Chris Alar speaks at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy, emphasizing living the faith ❤️.
He discusses the most critical virtues for attaining heaven, focusing on both theological and cardinal virtues 🕊️.
Humility, according to Fr. Alar, is fundamental in binding all virtues, acting as the string in a rosary of virtues 🌟.
The connection between virtues and eternal life is deeply explored, urging believers to integrate them into daily living 🔗.
Fr. Alar uses the Beatitudes to illustrate practical application of virtues in decision-making 🙌.
By practicing virtues infused with love, believers align closer to divine grace and eternal life 💫.
Fr. Alar stresses that faith without works is dead, highlighting the necessity of living an active faith ✨.
He provides both theological insights and practical examples to illustrate his points, making them accessible to all 🌈.
The talk encourages embracing humility to sidestep temptations and foster resilience against spiritual challenges 🙏.
Fr. Alar describes how virtues, particularly charity, are lived expressions of divine love, pivotal to achieving spiritual completeness 💖.

Key Takeaways

Understanding virtues is key to living a faith-driven life 🌟.
Humility is the thread that binds all virtues together 🙏.
Theological virtues – faith, hope, and love – are essential to spiritual growth 🌱.
Living virtues prepares us for life in heaven, not just on Earth 💫.
Reflecting on personal virtues through the Beatitudes can guide moral decisions 🌈.
Daily practice of virtues contributes eternal value to one's life ✨.
The role of the Holy Spirit is critical in imbuing virtues with divine grace 🕊️.
Living Divine Mercy links love for God and neighbor, embodying the essence of justice and charity 💖.
Moral and theological virtues collaboratively lead us to spiritual fulfillment 🎯.
A life enriched by virtues reflects God’s teachings and leads to eternal happiness 🌈.

Overview

In a captivating and heartfelt talk, Fr. Chris Alar delves into the essence of virtues necessary for achieving eternal life. Held at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy, the discussion encompasses both cardinal and theological virtues, highlighting humility as the foundational virtue that binds all others. With insights drawn from his seminary teachings, Fr. Chris passionately advocates for an active faith that transcends denominations and enriches spiritual lives.

Exploring the broad family of virtues, Fr. Alar elaborates on the cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, and their combined roles in cultivating moral integrity. He emphasizes how these virtues, alongside the theological principles of faith, hope, and charity, are instrumental in shaping one’s character, guiding believers towards both earthly goodness and heavenly grace. His teachings aim to instill a deeper sense of purpose and commitment to living out these virtues daily.

Through engaging stories and theological profundity, Fr. Chris Alar inspires his audience to focus on the virtues within the framework of the Beatitudes. He shares a nuanced perspective on how these virtues, especially when infused with divine love, prepare individuals for spiritual fulfillment and a closer union with God. The talk is a clarion call to embrace a life that reflects divine mercy and love, urging believers to entwine virtues into the very fabric of their existence.

Chapters

00:00 - 03:00: Introduction The chapter titled 'Introduction' features Father Chris AAR from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He welcomes the audience to a live session, expressing excitement to engage with the large group present. Father Chris highlights the purpose of the session, which involves providing teaching on church doctrines and explaining aspects of the faith.
03:00 - 06:00: Overview of Virtues In this chapter titled 'Overview of Virtues,' the discussion begins with a reflection on the importance of knowledge as a precursor to love, as highlighted in seminary teachings. The speaker recounts conversations with theologian Chris Sparks about the need to not just know the tenets of faith but to actively live them. This transition marks the focus of the show 'Living Divine Mercy,' emphasizing practical applications of faith.
06:00 - 09:00: Definition and Importance of Virtues The chapter begins with the narrator recalling their four semesters of studying moral Theology in seminary. The focus is on imparting knowledge about key virtues essential for reaching heaven, which might not align with common perceptions. The chapter sets the stage with a prayer invoking Heavenly Father's guidance.
09:00 - 13:00: Cardinal Virtues In the chapter titled 'Cardinal Virtues,' the focus is on a spiritual invocation to the Holy Spirit. There's an emphasis on opening minds and hearts, especially for those who are committing their time and effort. The prayer asks for rewards for these individuals through grace and virtues. The intention is for them to live according to the teachings of Christ, ultimately aiming for a life of virtue that leads to eternal fulfillment.
13:00 - 18:00: Natural vs. Supernatural Goodness In this chapter, the speaker begins with a prayer and expresses gratitude to the audience for attending. They introduce a new talk focusing on virtues, particularly emphasizing that it is a fresh perspective that has not been extensively covered before, even on their previous shows. The chapter sets the stage to dive into the discussion on natural versus supernatural goodness, hinting at the exploration of theological virtues.
18:00 - 29:00: The Theological Virtues The chapter titled 'The Theological Virtues' focuses on the key virtues necessary for attaining heaven. It emphasizes the cardinal and theological virtues, with a particular focus on humility. The chapter seems to delve into the teachings of moral theology as learned in seminary, highlighting the importance of not only learning about these virtues but also embodying them.
29:00 - 33:00: The Role of Humility The chapter titled 'The Role of Humility' emphasizes the importance of living one's faith actively. It suggests virtues as fundamental aspects of the Christian moral life, aiming to transform theoretical knowledge into practical application. The discussion appears rooted in a deep understanding of moral theology, as indicated by the reference to extensive studies and the catechism's definition of virtue.
33:00 - 34:30: Overview of Specific Virtues This chapter focuses on the development of virtuous habits as a cornerstone of leading a good life. It emphasizes the importance of consistently choosing to do good, highlighting that while the idea is straightforward, putting it into practice can be challenging. Drawing upon the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, the chapter introduces the Latin term 'habitus' as an essential concept, suggesting that understanding this term is crucial for grasping the essence of living a spiritually enriched life.
34:30 - 39:00: Prudence This chapter titled 'Prudence' explores a quote attributed to Thomas Aquinas about the importance of monitoring one's inner thoughts. It suggests a chain reaction where thoughts turn into words, words evolve into actions, actions form into habits, and habits eventually shape one’s character. The excerpt emphasizes the significance of attentiveness to each stage of this process to cultivate a prudent and virtuous character.
39:00 - 47:00: Justice The chapter discusses the development of character and how habits play a crucial role in shaping it. It emphasizes that while God won't judge a person based on a single thought or word, consistent thoughts can lead to words, words to actions, and actions to habits, which ultimately define character and influence one's eternal fate.
47:00 - 57:00: Fortitude The chapter 'Fortitude' explores the relationship between habits and character, emphasizing how these shape one's destiny and spiritual journey towards an Eternal Union with God. It asserts that virtues are essential habits and dispositions that facilitate this union. The chapter acknowledges human struggles with sin but stresses the importance of developing a good character, as God judges individuals based on character.
57:00 - 63:00: Temperance The chapter titled "Temperance" discusses the eight virtues recognized in Catholic tradition, focusing particularly on the first four known as cardinal virtues. These cardinal virtues are also referred to as natural or moral virtues. The chapter begins by introducing one of these virtues, Prudence, which is essentially about wisdom and thinking before speaking.
63:00 - 68:30: Faith The chapter 'Faith' explores the concept of justice and its different facets. It delves into the idea that justice involves giving someone what they are due, whether it be firmness or forgiveness. It emphasizes that God deserves our worship as a form of Justice, while people deserve mercy. The discussion navigates the theological and moral implications of justice in the context of faith.
68:30 - 77:30: Hope The chapter titled 'Hope' explores virtues essential to human integrity and character, particularly focusing on justice, mercy, fortitude, courage, and temperance. The narrative includes personal anecdotes, such as the author's wrestling experiences in Temperance, Michigan. Despite the brevity, these virtues are presented as integral traits for a balanced and meaningful life.
77:30 - 89:00: Charity (Love) The chapter explores the concept of Charity, also known as Love, from a Christian perspective. It briefly discusses the virtue of Temperance, emphasizing its connection to Christian roots and self-control. The chapter positions the moral virtues - Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance - as qualities that one gains through personal effort and practice, with the ultimate goal of leading a good life.
89:00 - 95:00: Conclusion and Final Blessing The chapter emphasizes the Christian belief that the ultimate goal is not just to lead a good life on Earth, but to aspire for a good life in heaven. It stresses the importance of practicing virtues in line with God's grace to achieve both earthly and heavenly goodness. The narrative suggests that many people often focus only on earthly accomplishments, evidenced by a shared anecdotal experience where the speaker's aunt expressed such a notion.

Most Important Virtues to Get to Heaven - Explaining the Faith w/Fr. Chris Alar Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 well good morning everyone I'm father Chris AAR here at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge Massachusetts and we're glad you could be with us today we're here live with a great group of people here and we are excited to talk about you know we give you a lot of church teaching in these classes and these explaining the faith
00:30 - 01:00 where I take you back to Seminary and that's a good thing because you can't love what you don't know but I was going through my Seminary notes and I was talking with our Theologian Chris Sparks and you know I don't do enough talk I do a lot on knowing the faith but I want to start do now more on living the faith that's the purpose of our show on EWTN living Divine Mercy but in these Saturday talks I had had two full years
01:00 - 01:30 four semesters of moral Theology and I want to take you back to Seminary today uh because what we're doing is we're going to teach you what we learned in seminary about the most important virtues to get you to heaven and uh surprisingly they may not be the ones you think and so let us begin with a prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen Heavenly Father father we ask that you
01:30 - 02:00 come send the Holy Spirit down upon us to open our minds and hearts especially for those who made the effort to give of their time today you will not be outdone in generosity and we ask Lord that you reward these Souls who are taking the time to listen and watch with the grace and in in virtues that they can live their life in the way that the teaching of Christ leads them in living in virtue so so that they may may attain eternal
02:00 - 02:30 life in heaven and we ask this through Christ Our Lord amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen everybody God bless you we're so grateful that you could be here I was just telling the group that was here with us that this is a brand new talk on the virtues I did a little bit of the theological virtues on the EWTN show last year but not enough uh these what we're going to talk about today are
02:30 - 03:00 the most important virtues and there's many many virtues but we're going to give you the Crux the the most important to get to heaven these are the Cardinal and the theological virtues but also more like humility we're going to talk about this so what are they okay virtues and here I'm going to be like I said taking you back to Seminary because what we learn in seminary in in in moral theology is you got to just not learn
03:00 - 03:30 your faith know it to love it but now you got to live it and that's what we're going to do today so the virtues are the building blocks of the Christian moral life again I had four semesters on just moral theology learning about the virtues um and so the catechism def catechism defines virtue as the habitual and firm disposition
03:30 - 04:00 to do the good so really all this is is building a habit of doing the good being good well easier said than done now Thomas aquinus used the Latin habitus which is one Latin word that you should learn I know that you know we not everybody wants to learn Latin but this is one and you've heard me say this before because you want to see the whole essence of living a spiritual good life
04:00 - 04:30 is this Thomas aquinus said watch your thoughts watch your thoughts because thoughts turn to words and watch your words because words turn to actions and watch your actions because actions turn into habits the more you do them and watch your habits because your habits develop your character he's a
04:30 - 05:00 good person he's not a good person so watch your habits because your habits develop your character and watch your character cuz your character determines where you will spend eternity God is not going to judge you by one thought or one word but over time those thoughts turn to words those words turn to actions those actions turn to habits those
05:00 - 05:30 habits turn and develop your character God will judge you on your character so this is why we're here today to help you understand to know better so that you can live this better okay so the virtues are the habits and the dispositions that help us reach Eternal Union with God we canot have eternal Union with God if we have a bad character but we all struggle right we all struggle with sin and so
05:30 - 06:00 Catholic tradition recognizes I'm going to talk about today eight virtues the king8 okay the first four are the cardinal virtues now this is uh known as the natural virtues or the moral virtues now these are kind of surprising to somebody but they are and we're going to talk about them Prudence which is just wisdom think before you you speak that's
06:00 - 06:30 my biggest problem and I've got many um then justice justice is giving someone their due whether it's firm or forgiveness whatever it is whatever they are they are owed you you are you do them you are du to owe them what they deserve so God deserves our worship that's Justice and you are people deserve Mercy
06:30 - 07:00 from you that is Justice when you are merciful then there's fortitude this is simply courage all right courage and then there's Temperance uh I used to wrestle out of Michigan and and the B best town in Michigan in wrestling in the united in the whole state of Michigan was Temperance Michigan Bedford used to call it Bedford Temperance and I remember asking how do they get the name
07:00 - 07:30 Temperance it goes back to the Christian Roots of this virtue self-control okay so now the moral virtues or the cardinal virtues that we just said Prudence Justice fortitude and Temperance are gained how well they're given by God lord actually these are through your own efforts through practice the goal is their practice leads to a good life you practice those
07:30 - 08:00 now as Christians it's not just the goal of a good life here on Earth but rather a good life in heaven and so practiced these virtues practiced in God's grace helped him meet not only our natural good here on Earth and that's where people stop you know do you ever hear that phrase from people well and this but my own aunt my own aunt said this well I work with this
08:00 - 08:30 guy he was baptized and raised in the Catholic church he used to go to St Michael's well he doesn't go to church anymore he doesn't really believe in in the Catholic faith um he married his boyfriend um they live together um he doesn't really um you know um believe the Catholic Church teaching on any of this but he's such a good person he's such a good person is that
08:30 - 09:00 can that statement be true can it yes on the natural level on the Earthly plane that can be true you can work in the soup work in the soup kitchen you can I'm sure he donates to charity on the natural level on the Earthly plane that can be very true he can be a good person but when you reject the teaching of God when you reject the church and
09:00 - 09:30 the teachings that are given to us through divine revelation you cannot obtain the good on the supernatural level and that's what matters that's what matters and so it does make a difference when somebody tells you oh well they're not going to church they they don't believe in this they they they support uh transgenderism redefinition of marriage they support abortion but they're such a good
09:30 - 10:00 person they are only good on the natural level if they even do good and I would even debate that if you're supporting abortion and redefining marriage I would even debate goodness on the natural level but you can still be good you can donate to charity I said you can work in the soup kitchens but you can never achieve goodness on a supernatural level and that's what love is and that's what we want to we want to elevate those we love onto the supernatural level
10:00 - 10:30 you on this world we care so much about the natural level and feelings and emotions that we don't even think about having to say you know I love you and your feelings are important but what's more important is that you get to heaven what's more important is that you you you are in Union with God and that's that's the difference here okay so practicing God's grace they can help us not only to the Natural good but the supernatural good
10:30 - 11:00 all right this is what's as important and they are called the cardinal virtues now we're talking about um the four uh Prudence Justice C uh temp fortitude and Temperance why are they called the cardinal virtues that that word is Latin for hinge the Latin word cardo or Cardines is hinge since the whole life of the natural virtues pivot on these four virtues these four are to be naturally
11:00 - 11:30 good to be so we're going to first talk about making you good on Earth and then we're going to talk the virtues that make you good in heaven so those four are the cardinal virtues the Latin cardo means hinge because the whole life of the natural virtues pivots on these four virtues in other words every other virtue you can think of patience is a virtue gratitude Trust they all belong
11:30 - 12:00 to one of these four groups okay that's why these are the four big ones so let's look at them again Prudence is acting in the proper way thinking before you speak Discerning before you make a decision just don't be rash you're driving down the road and you see a house for sale and you don't know about the neighborhood you don't know about the schools you don't know what your spouse thinks you just go in there oh you know what I'm going to buy I'm going to buy it no discern these
12:00 - 12:30 things justice as I said is giving someone their due okay is re you never hear that term I'm spiritual I'm not religious you ever hear that I'm re or I'm not religious I'm spiritual well the first problem with that you're rejecting a pretty big virtue is religion a
12:30 - 13:00 virtue yes it is now which of those four do you think it falls under do you think religion falls under Prudence Justice fortitude or Temperance actually religion is a virtue of Justice why because in religion you're giving God his due God deserves your worship he is due your worship so in religion you are giving God his due he is due your
13:00 - 13:30 worship therefore religion is under the virtue of justice that is amazing and so um Justice is is giving God his due worship for example or being merciful to someone else the suffering person is due your consolation your help that is Mercy Mercy is a virtue of Justice now fortitude is courage or
13:30 - 14:00 bravery especially in our world today how many of these I'm sorry I'm going to call them out these wimps in Hollywood that are so afraid to speak the truth because they're afraid they're going to get canceled and first of all it is a shame that they would get canceled it is a shame that they would get attacked but they're in my book They're wimps because you don't have the fortitude you don't have the courage to stand up and say you
14:00 - 14:30 know what killing a baby in the womb is wrong redefining marriage which is existed from the beginning of time is wrong but they're they're too wimpy to do this they're too afraid to be criticized get some fortitude be you know I I tell these I would tell these male actors be a man you know I I I I can see some of them you can just almost read minds they don't even believe what they're saying
14:30 - 15:00 they're saying it just to be able to to fit into the the the crud culture that that that is out there today now what about Temperance Temperance is moderation in all things good or bad moderation can be good in anything like like even exercise if all you doing is 8 hours a day is working out you need a little bit of temperance a little bit a little bit of moderation all right it perfects our appetite so
15:00 - 15:30 they all help each other for example how how do they relate to each other okay now um how I learned how to swim uh when I was four my dad threw me off the dock now he wasn't going to Let Me Drown but I was scared to death and man did I learn to tread water fast and it worked I learned how to swim at like age three or four uh that's how I learned how to swim so let me ask you this question if if I didn't know how to
15:30 - 16:00 swim and I walk by somebody drowning in the lake and and kicking and screaming in the river and I'm walking over the bridge fortitude is it courageous to jump in and save someone absolutely if I know how to swim so it's it's it's a gift of fortitude to jump in that water to save someone but I need to have Prudence if I can't swim
16:00 - 16:30 now if I know I can't swim and this guy is drowning and the Raging Waters down below and I know the second I jump into that water that I'm going to drown is it prudent to jump into that River no now you are morally obligated to do whatever you can instantly to try to get help but you see how the virtues work together yeah it's fortitude to jump in that River to save the drowning guy but it's not prudent if I if I don't know how to swim and so all the virtues need
16:30 - 17:00 Prudence to find that mean um in caring out any virtue fortitude and Temperance are needed you got to have courage but doing it in moderation and they all help to treat others the right way which is Justice and so if people are ordered to that end it's due to the gift of God's grace in you called
17:00 - 17:30 charity love and only when the cardinal virtues the moral virtues that I just said Temperance Justice fortitude if they only when those virtues moral virtues are infused with love do they become real virtue okay and so without love without charity they are only virtues in the natural plane and not on the supernatural plane okay that is why charity is called
17:30 - 18:00 the queen of Virtues it's called the form of the virtues now those four I just explained to you are on this earth now in addition to the four cardinal virtues we have the three bigger virtues does anybody know what those are called theological virtues and they are Faith Hope and the greatest of
18:00 - 18:30 these love charity and so they are the three greatest things in the world Thomas aquinus said the three legs that support the whole Christian Life faith hope and love they make the difference between Heaven and Hell eternal life and eternal death they are the glue holding you to God we are talking about something critically important here they are a participation of Heaven on Earth it is bringing Heaven
18:30 - 19:00 down to earth like the mass even if you don't feel it why are these called the theological virtues Theos they are because they have God as their object Theos means god theology is the study of God so theological virtues are the virtues that directly come from God the the others I mentioned those other four the cardinal
19:00 - 19:30 virtues Temperance Justice fortitude they uh Prudence they come from you you got to do your part then God gives you the others so they are given to us at God by God when baptism and their purpose is to lead us back to God after sin we cannot earn the theological virtues we cannot earn them by Good Deeds only by grace Grace you want to get to heaven I want to get to
19:30 - 20:00 heaven there's only one word that get you to heaven Grace God's grace comes to us through the sacraments through the mass and you asking for them do you regularly ask for the gifts of these virtues through the grace of God if not you need to so alongside charity we talked about love love and charity are the same there are two other theological virtues
20:00 - 20:30 infused into you at baptism Faith and Hope now Faith is that intellectual Ascent the agreeing with the truths that God has revealed to you it just doesn't believe God exists faith is not just oh I believe in God the demons believe in God faith is not only belief that God exists but you agree with the truth that he teaches us
20:30 - 21:00 through Bible and the church now hope is the confidence that we will reach our final goal in Heaven There is an afterlife I wouldn't be up here if I didn't have hope in an afterlife if I didn't believe in the promises of God God promises that if we're faithful and we follow him and we use the gift that he gives us in the church we will spend eternity with him I
21:00 - 21:30 wouldn't be up here I'd be out on the beach you know doing stupid things um living with other people doing stupid things no way but I have hope that there is an afterlife and hope in God and so like the cardinal virtues these virtues are full only if we have love they are not full virtues unless they are Ed with Charity so what happens
21:30 - 22:00 if you don't have charity well father I I don't know if I have charity yes you do do you have any mortal sin on your soul then you don't have charity yeah but I'm such a good person on the natural level charity faith hope and love are on the supernatural if you are in a state of mortal sin and you have committed grave sin without going back to conf confession as the church teaches you cannot have
22:00 - 22:30 active Supernatural charity in your soul it's gone it's gone and so mortal sin causes you to lose that charity and in this case good habits like being patience or donating your time and charity they're no longer ordered to the final end they could be good on The Natural end on the Earthly plane but they have no merit to to Heaven none all the good work you do if
22:30 - 23:00 you're in a state of mortal sin all the good work you do has no merit to Heaven it makes you a good person on this Earth makes you a good person on the natural level but don't forget the latter up to God is to be striving for the Supernatural and so likewise with Faith and Hope without charity they can exist yes you can have faith in I have faith in the Detroit Lions that they're
23:00 - 23:30 going to win the Super Bowl this year okay I have complete faith I guess that would be more hope I I have more hope that the lions are going to win the Super Bowl but that is not what's important Faith and Hope without charity can exist but that which is believed in and hoped for God is no longer in your soul so if you don't have charity because you
23:30 - 24:00 ran it out with mortal sin and you haven't been back to confession guess what everybody you could still have faith well I still believe God exists you can still have hope I still hope in heaven but that which is believed in faith God and that which is hoped for God are no longer present in your soul so you can still have faith and you can still have hope but that what you have faith in and that what you hope for
24:00 - 24:30 God is not in your soul you've removed him so sanctifying Grace is absent that's why we need confession and we call them dead Faith and Hope or unformed Faith and Hope because there is no charity and so they do this is what's important they still do the person enormous good Faith and Hope because if one still believes and hopes you can be
24:30 - 25:00 motivated to get back on track you can be motivated and then you can get back on track to the final end of getting God through confession and the mass and the sacrament so the church teaches that each of these seven these Seven Virtues depends on each other and that makes perfect sense and the virtues okay everybody I want to make you a little analogy right now you got your rose
25:00 - 25:30 okay there are in the church well-known 50 virtues not just the seven I talked about Prudence Justice fortitude Temperance and faith hope and love but others like patience um others like Mercy um these are all virtues now think I was reading a book on on the 50 virtues this is kind of like a rosary right these beads are all like the
25:30 - 26:00 virtues but notice they're all held together what is holding this rosary beads together a string what do you think that string would be that is holding all of the virtues together that if you don't have that string in your life it's impossible for you to have all these virtues that string humility
26:00 - 26:30 humility that makes it the string is humility humility let's go to our next slide if brother Mark can show it humility and let's look up on our screen here because humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere op appearance that is outstanding St
26:30 - 27:00 Augustine without virtue you just pull the strings and your beads fall everywhere humility I'm sorry without humility it's like you pull the string and the virtues just go falling everywhere and so humility is the key because it is the foundation it is the soil for which the fruit of your virtues grows this this is really important
27:00 - 27:30 nothing else happens without humility St Thomas aquinus put it under the virtue of something else though where do you think Thomas put humility under those four virtu remember I said everything falls under those four virtues Temperance Justice fortitude Prudence guess where Thomas of aquinus put the virtue of humility he put it under Temperance why because you got to temperate you got to make yourself
27:30 - 28:00 controlled you got to you got to control yourself humility is under Temperance so we don't ever become too much into ourselves right we have to know our limits humility is not what you think humility is simply the truth now I've said this example before but it it is it is it humble and I always ask who is the
28:00 - 28:30 greatest NFL football player ever in history yes Barry Sanders from the Detroit Lions Barry Sanders the greatest ever he did it all without having any Supporting Cast if he had The Supporting Cast of uh EMT Smith he would have run three times the yardage he had nothing the greatest ever now would it be humble for Barry Sanders to say you know I really wasn't that good of a football
28:30 - 29:00 player no that's not humble that's a lie humility is simply the truth humility is not thinking less of oneself humility is thinking of oneself less you get that humility is not thinking less of yourself humility is thinking of yourself less and so Souls who you know okay
29:00 - 29:30 there's a interesting example I heard from one of the Saints and I I can never remember which Saint it was they said you know there are many many souls in heaven that did bad things there are souls in heaven that did drugs there are souls in heaven that looked at pornography that are souls in heaven that lost their
29:30 - 30:00 patience H but there's not one soul in heaven with pride likewise he said there are many good souls in Hell there are souls in hell that sat in the front pew at church there are no offense guys sorry about that there are souls in hell that gave
30:00 - 30:30 to the soup kitchen there are souls in hell that went to mass there are souls in hell that did good things but not one soul in hell with humility not one so let's watch a real quick This is 40 seconds this is a fascinating little video of a priest I found in 47 seconds tells us about humility take a look at
30:30 - 31:00 this video it's really good says humility was a particular virtue of Christ it is therefore feared by the devil and despised by the world it is yeah so I mean like the devil fears it he does because how does the Devil tempt us a lot of the time it's by plugging into this pride and ego and ambition you know and this this pride and ego gives rise to um not only to um wrongful desires but also to refusal to
31:00 - 31:30 forgive refusal to be charitable refusal to sympathize with other people so humility breaks down all of these and the truly humble person um can't be overcome by the devil because the devil has nothing to offer them which could possibly distract them from virtue yeah okay so what a short but yet powerful video of this priest basically saying that all of the vices
31:30 - 32:00 that Satan's going to use to attack you um you know ambition that you want to be this great person or or you know I I I I I want to be wanted by everybody um so you know I want everybody that I want I want so I have lust um I have you know I want everybody to want me so I have pride all the things that the devil contempt you with the one thing that chops and half is humility and so he said with all those
32:00 - 32:30 vices that Satan comes at you with if you have humility he isn't he he ain't got nothing he's got nothing to get you with it does not true with everything else every other virtue gets a piece of the pie piece of the pie piece of the pie but remember humility is the one that holds them all together humility is the one that holds them all
32:30 - 33:00 together and so if you got that string even if you're missing some beads you you he can't touch you humility is the one thing that makes the devil completely helpless it's the only thing it's the only thing and so this is this is why humility is so important okay we're going to finish Now by talking a little bit more about each of those Seven Virtues now so let's go to our next slide and let's talk about about the virtue of prudence all right
33:00 - 33:30 Prudence is the wisdom of a prudent man the wisdom of a prudent man is to discern his way but the Folly of foods is deceiving what does that mean okay you have to discern you know it's hard to be a disciple because us Christians seem to make it a lot worse than it needs to be you see we have a very bad habit of trying to carry everything put upon us
33:30 - 34:00 either by ourselves or everybody else we we have a bad habit of trying to carry the wrong crosses I guarantee you for all you people who say I can't do it you're right you can't because you're trying to carry Christ promised that he wouldn't give you more than you could carry well then why am I got so much weight he's given me more than I can carry no you've given yourself more than you can carry and so you're taking your cross not God's today we often seek to solve all our problems
34:00 - 34:30 with all of our strength this is another one of my many faults all right I I I always say to my step don't worry I'll do it myself it it's getting hard to do that we believe that we can carry not just our own cross uh from God but any and all crosses that come to us this is why it is often too much we must remain in constant loving communion with God in order to carry
34:30 - 35:00 what we think and know are his crosses to discern be prudent I don't you ever hear that term pick your battles pick your crosses this one is not of God I'm just not going to worry about it this one is okay and so in order to be in constant loving communion you need to be receiving Holy Communion this is critically important
35:00 - 35:30 and we need to be receiving the sacraments to be in community with the body of Christ the church that's how you are prudent we need to be living and loving in a living relationship with God not because he needs it but because we do and Prudence shows us the way okay to be prudent is not to be timid or to avoid hard labor okay I I am you guys all know me I'm not
35:30 - 36:00 timid and I don't avoid hard labor but that doesn't make me prudent and actually I'm not prudent because I I I do dumb things I don't think before I speak I take on my own crosses I make my life hard on myself I'm not timid I don't avoid hard labor but many times I'm not prudent and doing this looking back at my Seminary notes really woke me up and and and many people assume that
36:00 - 36:30 being prudent is timid and avoiding hard labor no it's not Prudence is to see rightly to to perceive what the right thing is the right goal in any situation and to discern the right way of achieving it this is catechism 1806 the catechism is the most beautiful gift because it it's all based on scripture but it tells you how to live so it is Prudence that immediately guides the
36:30 - 37:00 Judgment of your conscience your conscience is the key you ever hear your conscious pricking at you you know this is wrong but you do it anyway you're not being prudent you know um I often feel overwhelmed at my own to-do lists it's funny because I meet with Kevin our executive director and Father Mark and I've been training Father Mark to take over as the new Father Joseph and I I use this software called GQ it it to me God created that for me
37:00 - 37:30 it is the single greatest um app that software tool that helps me organize my goals my tasks my work it's incredible and I I got like 780 open items that need to be done tomorrow and so I could feel overwhelmed by this full of things that I believe have to get done I labor but I got to go through that list again and say okay God
37:30 - 38:00 what is what do you want right um rather than steady disciplin temperate action followed by proper discernment rather than the courage to accept that I am a creature with limits rather than to live a life of virtue I often try to act as though I am the one doing it I'm unlimited and and we can do all things no without God
38:00 - 38:30 who would strengthen us we can't and so each of us is not called to every single labor be prudent no one person alone has that strength we are only called to be all things in love and mercy to all people not to attempt to accomplish all things right and so pray for the grace of discernment to know the good and pursue it the right way pray that you
38:30 - 39:00 may always remember we are never to do evil for the sake of calling it good okay this is important never do evil so that a good may come of it I'm going to abort that baby so I can get my college degree there is no such thing I'm going to get the divorce so that I can be with the real person I love even though you made your vows to
39:00 - 39:30 this person well it's a good that I'm with the real person that I like that's your emotions that's your feelings love is not just emotion or feeling it's a decision an act of the will that you made in your vows all right now be careful because there is a double effect in in theology that says you can do like in war there can be bombing if the principle of double effect but that basically says as long as you're not intending the bad a bad consequence may
39:30 - 40:00 be allowed but you can't be intending like for instance a mother has a baby and the surgery both are going to die without surgery and then they opt to do a surgery where the baby may be lost or a surgery where the baby is saved and the mother may be lost whichever one they choose is morally okay because they're not intending to cause the life of the mother they're not intending to C cause the life of the baby that's an
40:00 - 40:30 unfortunate result of trying to save one life otherwise both would die that's the principle of double effect so all things are possible with God so pray that you may not rely on your own ability pray for Prudence okay that's the first one next one Justice let's go to our next slide Justice blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness Justice for they shall be satisfied St Matthew all right Adam and
40:30 - 41:00 Eve rebelled against God that triggered his Justice which according to the catechism is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor you want to know what just is God and neighbor deserve your best that's it that's it Justice is you give God his due you
41:00 - 41:30 worship him and you love your neighbor that is Mercy Mercy is love put into action so if you are living Divine Mercy you are God you're doing them both because in living Divine Mercy like the name of our EWTN show that encompasses both you're loving God and you're loving your neighbor you're giving God your due in worshiping him and you're giving your neighbor the do in treating them respectfully and mercifully this is
41:30 - 42:00 important okay Adam and Eve failed to give God his due they rebelled against God they messed up but you know what there's an answer John Paul 2 said as Catholics how do you handle injustices John Paul to said injustices in the world does not mean All Is Lost just in I'm sorry
42:00 - 42:30 injustices in the world are an opportunity for you to practice Mercy yep when someone is suffering because of an injustice that's an opportunity for you to be merciful save your soul God's mercy equals his Justice that's crazy and and so should ours that means that the suffering neighbor is doe your
42:30 - 43:00 help by Justice love your neighbor means when they are suffering you're going to help them emotionally physically or spiritually the most just laws though see this is where social justice can be misunderstood in the Catholic church we have a lot of Catholics that have gone astray that only focus on social justice do you know I went to full Catholic High School and I only learned one thing in
43:00 - 43:30 our religion class the evils of apartheid in South Africa okay I don't dispute that social justice but that's all I ever learned I never ever learned my faith I never ever learned the teaching of the church I learned about the Injustice and social justice and Injustice of apartheid now what's interesting about that is no matter how many just laws you have
43:30 - 44:00 in the world you'll never eliminate Injustice on the earth do you do you know what this Dei is and I've talked about it Dei have you heard about this what's going on in all the corporations now diversity equity and inclusion these are laws that we want to Hope are meant to be just but as it was said recently by a
44:00 - 44:30 politician Dei is causing Injustice because de really stands for division exclusion and indoctrination because if you don't buy into it first of all it causes division because not everybody agrees that people should be given rules and responsibilities that they don't deserve okay now we're seeing that right away with the the SEC service the director of The Secret Service had
44:30 - 45:00 absolutely no background the director of The Secret Service had no background in what she was put in charge of was hired under the name of Dei this is ridiculous the president of Boeing Boeing which is now being destroyed because of their safety problems is on tape a year ago saying the main and number one objective of
45:00 - 45:30 Boeing Corporation is diversity okay that's a good thing but if that's your main thing what about safety when I got on of that airplane I don't care if my stewardess is black white purple or green but I sure better hope that that propeller doesn't fall off in the flight I am much more concerned about my safety than the color of my
45:30 - 46:00 stewardess now that doesn't mean that we discriminate of course not but when you have the president of Boeing saying the most important thing is that and no mention of safety you've got a problem you have what's meant to be just becoming injust and so we have to wake up to this this is a lie and so we should therefore not rely entirely on the government to fix this
46:00 - 46:30 each of us can strive for social justice by participating in Works of Mercy before we can establish peace in society or social justice you have to have it in your own life in other words each of us has to give what is due to both God and our neighbor that is why religion falls under Justice we're dealing with Justice the second one right now we must start by contemplating how we fall short of giving others their due do an examination of your conscience
46:30 - 47:00 at the end of every day how did you love your neighbor how did you love God this is the ignatian spirituality powerful and the Saints say working towards social justice isn't done by laws it begins with your relationship with God Bingo all right next let's go to our next slide if brother Mark can show fortitude all right fortitude is having courage in
47:00 - 47:30 the midst of the fears that we are experiencing in life Psalm 23 fortitude okay everybody do you know that four months into the deep deep illness that would eventually kill her tuberculosis St fostina made one prayer to God here she was sick Beyond dying and she made one prayer to God oh
47:30 - 48:00 Jesus my strength you alone can help me grant me fortitude St fosa said Lord I don't ask you take me down from the cross I ask you that you give me the strength to let me stay upon it how many of us pray me included to be removed from the cross and that's not bad but how many of us are praying to give
48:00 - 48:30 us God the fortitude the courage to remain steadfastly upon the cross fascinating fascinating and so the catechism says fortitude ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good it strengthens the res to resist Temptations when you are tested and to overcome obstacles in the moral life life you can only resist with courage do
48:30 - 49:00 you have the courage to tell somebody no when they want to do drugs with you or have relations with you do do you know I give the confessional when somebody confesses sexual sins because they are very common with ourselves or with another you know what I say to them something that I heard that really affected me one of the Saints said to resist one strong sexual
49:00 - 49:30 temptation is to pass a greater test than even that faced by Lucifer and his demons at the time of the Fall incredible to resist one strong sexual Temptation now not meaning the love between a husband and a wife that's the marital act but we're talking talking pornography or masturbation or uh fornication or
49:30 - 50:00 adultery to resist one strong te sexual Temptation te text well could be through texts to resist one strong sexual temptation is to pass a greater test than even that faced by Lucifer and his demons at the time of the fall when you think about what you are doing when you think by resisting Lord I'm giving that much Grace into the universe you know every time you do an act of virtue you put Grace into the
50:00 - 50:30 universe and every time you do a sin you suck it out you put an act of Vice into the universe and the whole universe is weighted up or down by how much we do virtue or vice this is why the world's in a mess that it's in because we're all choosing Vice and very little virtue amazing that we don't think about this all right now the virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear even fear of death and
50:30 - 51:00 face all trials and tribulations all right um we are all the times confronting things in life that cause us to be anxious even terrified still to authentically live out our Catholic identity requires that you conquer fear even fear of death you know the number one reason people don't come to church fear fearful that God's justice will get him no you come here you get God's
51:00 - 51:30 mercy the other sisters with fosa said it was painful to even look at St fosa at the end of her life yet they reported that the whole time she was stoic even cheerful smiling because she had fortitude we're talking about fortitude now here's what they said this is Sister cencia dear sister or sister dear you were not afraid of
51:30 - 52:00 death sister fostina answered why should I be all my sins and Imperfections will be consumed like straw in the fire of divine mercy so as it was for a saint it is for us when we keep our eyes fixed on the merciful Heart of Jesus we can't go wrong keep your eyes fixed on the Creator not the creature or the created thing does that make sense keep your eyes on the Creator not
52:00 - 52:30 the creature or the created thing and so when we have faith in the promises of God when we put our hope in his promises all right and when we are motivated by charity by the love of God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves we will find that our thoughts and our actions are driven by force fortitude the key the key we find that we can step
52:30 - 53:00 forward in faith without fear if you seek fortitude in your life and you want it do what Fus did ask for it awesome all right the next one is short Temperance Temperance use the gifts you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you that's St TZ all right Temperance Splurge you deserve it do it
53:00 - 53:30 it feels good if it feels good just do it the biggest Nike campaign in history just do it all right we live in this consumeristic culture one that caters to feelings emotions and passions you know Jesus this to put any limit on your passions is against our culture
53:30 - 54:00 we yes we are allowed to play and rest God gives us this but don't let it control you you need Temperance Jesus was not always working this is surprising to me but rather he was very temperate he rested he visited friends every time I do in the back of my mind I'm like oh my gosh I'm not getting this work done I'm not getting that work done even Jesus did it and so nowadays many people may hear the word
54:00 - 54:30 Temperance and think bad you think a c nation beating the drunks over the head with her umbrella now basically that movement was not temperate at all no Temperance is about moderation of appetite not the complete denial of it entirely kination wanted to create everything dry not even a sip of alcohol that's not temperance Temperance is moderation a middle ground and so it's about telling
54:30 - 55:00 yourself no sometimes not all the time it's in unless it's a sin it's intemperate to snack before dinner it's temperate to not spoil your appetite see the difference there it's intemperate to stay up all night to be exhausted so you can't enjoy your day off tomorrow it's temperent to go to bed early so you could have a good day all right and so
55:00 - 55:30 remember fun is not the meaning of Sunday I I I know people Catholics that'll just be like oh it's Sunday so they run off and they go hiking and fishing and boating all day I can't say I haven't done that but you can't forget the main purpose of Sunday is glory to God and so it's intemperate to deny yourself all Earthly Pleasures just because you want to be holy you know I tell the story
55:30 - 56:00 about a brother of mine when we were in novice class and um you know we marries we don't eat meat on Friday okay so we do that as a sacrifice but what's the queen virtue charity right so I'm with my brother and it's a Friday and we went over to a beautiful benefactor house and the husband and wife were beautiful and he made these incredible staks incredible stakes and put them on
56:00 - 56:30 the grill well somehow we didn't relate to them that it's Friday and as marians we don't eat meat on Friday but in the name of Charity you don't do this which was he came in with his apron on and his big chef hat and was so proud of these stakes and my brother says sorry it's Friday I can't eat those like look at me how holy I am now
56:30 - 57:00 my brother is much holier than I was but I knew enough in charity you don't do that so in in in in in in even the name of moderation you can be too strict Temperance is not denying everything all the time if you don't eat meat on Friday but somebody goes through the trouble of cooking you a beautiful steak dinner it's charitable to eat it now if
57:00 - 57:30 you're allergic or something then no but to say I can't eat that because it's Friday is not charity and what rains charity and so this is what's important okay so now um it's int temperate like I said to deny ourselves all pleasures in the name of Holiness it's tempered to keep the feasts and the fast in the church we we have feasts and
57:30 - 58:00 fasts and that's why if a big Feast falls on a Friday cities we eat meat and so Temperance is a great virtue of the moderate middle the middle of the narrow road in fact it's moderation in all things including moderation all right now the last three big ones faith hope and love and we're done faith let's go to our next slide Faith now Faith is confidence in
58:00 - 58:30 what we hope for and Assurance about what we do not see Hebrews 11 all right objectively faith is the sum of all the truths revealed to God by God to us in scripture and church it is in our Creed what do we call the Nan Creed at Mass the profession of Faith it's what we believe
58:30 - 59:00 subjectively so that's objectively is what we believe subjectively fa Faith stands for the habit or virtue by which these truths are ascented by you in your life in other words do you practice it do you follow it in other words it is how we live are we a person of God or not not no matter how often we go to mass no matter how often we do Works of Mercy or perform no
59:00 - 59:30 matter how often we read scripture or how often we pray or how long we spend time in prayer we cannot attain faith on your own it is a gift the catechism 153 faith is a gift of God a supernatural virtue imposed or infused by him so those first four I explained prudence Justice fortitude Temperance you get
59:30 - 60:00 them on your own effort and you need them but now we're up on faith hope and love which only comes from God they can you can ask for it but only God can give it and so having faith means more than merely believing that God exists true Faith enables us to believe all that God has said and revealed to us through through his holy church for the purpose of our belief because he is
60:00 - 60:30 truth itself that's catechism 184 and so we're getting close here now more than an intellectual thing true Faith calls you into action as scripture says faith without works is dead that's why we Catholics believe it not works of the law like washing your hands but works of Love James 2:26 faith
60:30 - 61:00 without works is dead if we have faith we must make it active in our life so Faith after all is a gift that relies on evidence of Things Not Seen Hebrews 11:1 as St Paul says we walk by faith not by sight that's 2 Corinthians 5:7 that's all trust is Trust TR fits under Faith because trust is a living faith when you put your faith into
61:00 - 61:30 action it's trust but unseen evidence does not mean that it is unreasonable do you all believe that England is an island do you all believe that England is an island have you actually got in a boat and sailed around all of it to verify that England is an island no you haven't well maybe you did but I
61:30 - 62:00 haven't do you need to do that or do you have faith that even though you've not seen it that's evidence that makes it reasonable this is God I believe that England is an island not because I've seen it for myself I simply take the reason of it from others and and I have belief that has harmony
62:00 - 62:30 with what has been reported it's the same with faith in God sometimes God himself will put our faith to the test he did with Abraham most of us have suffered through trials with not understanding why God is doing it when we follow God though in that faith we have no need to fear related to fortitude he has our best interest in mind God can bring a greater good out of even the worst suffering if we have
62:30 - 63:00 faith all right next hope hope let's go to our next slide hope for you oh Lord are my hope my trust is in you Psalm 146 all right being a Christian means living with the belief and knowledge that we have a future life after death we call this hope a beautiful thing that encompasses the next World and does improve this
63:00 - 63:30 world too but the key is we have hope for something better than this world man if this world is all there is we there ain't much here all right we do good on Earth to avoid sin because we have hope in something greater after we die y all ever hear of the p ative illuminative and unitive way this is a
63:30 - 64:00 staple I'm going to again take you back to Seminary because this is a staple teaching in the church these are the three ways you can be saved now the first is the purgative which means I avoid sin simply because I'm afraid of hell is that enough to be saved no mention of anything else other than I want to be good cuz I don't want to go to hell is that enough to be
64:00 - 64:30 saved yes it is now it's the minim minimal way it's the minimal way it's called the purgative way it's the least but it's something that's why there is a hell God gives us motivation right now what's the next one the illuminative that is there's something good in it for me I want to be good because I want to
64:30 - 65:00 enjoy Heaven forever I'm going to be good and avoid sin because I want to be able to have a joyful afterlife for all eternity again not bad is it enough to save you yes but it's not perfect the next level the unitive
65:00 - 65:30 way is perfect I'm good I avoid sin simply for the love of God do you know a spouse simply should do everything solely for the good of their spouse I'm not going to do this honey because it upsets you even though I don't understand it and I enjoy doing it it upsets you I won't do
65:30 - 66:00 it that's purely for the love of your spouse and when we do it for God it's the top the unitive way the purgative we avoid sin because we don't want to go to hell when we advance we get to the illuminative we avoid sin because we something good in for us Heaven I want something good I don't want to suffer the rest of my life I I want to be I want something good but the unity way is you do it solely out of love of God nothing about yourself nothing that's
66:00 - 66:30 good for you or voiding pain I kind of try to see myself probably between two and three closer to two I I I want to get to three but everything we do should be for that love of God and so to summarize again it's in the catechism hope this is what we're talking about now we're in Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven so this is kind of like the illuminative way
66:30 - 67:00 we're hoping in something good so faith is like the purgative way I I just I I believe in God there's there I I I don't want to go to hell the next level the illuminative is like hope I'm hoping in something good but then when you get to the unitive way it's only purely for the love of God that's love so you have faith hope and love and the greatest of these is love and so um it says we desire the
67:00 - 67:30 kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness this is Hope placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit catechism 18:17 I'm summarizing everything for you today in the moral life so I hope this makes sense I and and to me this you you really need to listen how to put these things in your life so to live in hope
67:30 - 68:00 is to believe that with Christ the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matthew 3 why do we do it our full Embrace of the Beatitudes or how we should we do it that's probably a better way to say it not why do we do it but how do we do this father you keep talking about this how do I do it our Embrace of the Beatitudes the catechism tells us look at all your trials in life as a disciple and then
68:00 - 68:30 Trace through it a path so that you can get through it so trace the path that leads through the trials that await you as a disciple the Beatitudes point to the ultimate goal of human existence the ultimate hope the life with God they point to the unitive way and so in preaching the B attitudes Christ lays out what you can confidently hope for so I finish hope and we got one more
68:30 - 69:00 to go hope is the Beatitudes and so when Christ taught the Beatitudes he laid out what we can confidently hope for blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are they who mourn for they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the land notice he's saying if you have hope now you will receive
69:00 - 69:30 something greater blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied blessed are the merciful for they will be shown Mercy blessed are the clean of heart the pure of heart for they will see God blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God and blessed are those persec uted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of
69:30 - 70:00 God last one everybody the big one charity love the church defines charity as the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God not for your neighbor in other words you don't even have to like Aunt
70:00 - 70:30 Emma you might not even be able to be in the same room with Aunt Emma but you're called to love her not because you feel like it but because it is God's will for you to do so that makes it a lot easier if you could say to yourself in silence Lord you know I can't handle this but because I love love you I will we love someone for their sake and
70:30 - 71:00 if we can't love them we love them for God's sake you can do both I um had a relationship with a nice lady and and she had two children from a previous marriage and um she was baffled at how much time I spent with the two
71:00 - 71:30 children and she had saw the stational geographic special on the Lions not the Detroit Lions African lions where another male came in and killed the Cubs of the female because they weren't his and then so she would go back into heat and he could mate with her now she sees this show and starts
71:30 - 72:00 thinking what is your motive to me this lion killed the cows because they weren't his so she says to me how can you love my children they're not yours how can I don't get it now that's a valid question and I said to her I love them because you love them and I love you I love them because they're part of
72:00 - 72:30 you and I love you so if I love you I'm going to love everything about you everything not bits and pieces that's true love and so a lot of people don't see that today and so we discover that it's not possible all right um for this worldly
72:30 - 73:00 love for mere erotic or romantic love to truly and ultimately be more powerful than death only real love is that Supernatural total self-giving love Agape holds the Beloved in immortality it's the greatest of all love and when that love is put into action it's Mercy this is divine love agape love and when it's put into love it's Mercy this is
73:00 - 73:30 absolute generous absolute self-giving love self-giving charity it mirrors the love of the Divine persons in the Trinity you've heard me say this before it's worth saying it again St Augustine explains the whole Trinity and the family is a mirror of that you have God the lover God God the Father God the father is the lover you have God the son the Beloved and the
73:30 - 74:00 love between them is so great that from it proceeds a third person the Holy Spirit doesn't mean they created him they're all uncreated but the son is begotten of the Father the father's begotten of No One the son is begotten of the father and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the son what that means is you have God the father the lover God the son the Beloved and the love between them is so
74:00 - 74:30 great that proceeding from it is the third person the Holy Spirit now Augustine said that's why the family is a man and a woman you have the husband the lover you have the wife the Beloved and the love between them is so great that from it proceeds a third person the child the family mirrors the Trinity why do you think Satan wants to turn it upside down today why do you think Satan wants to rewrite it why do you think
74:30 - 75:00 Satan is attacking it blessed are those who who maintain their faith in those trials they're going to happen they happen to all of us and so that's a beautiful example from Augustine this is so powerful it's real love so eternally God the Father loves the son into being an absolute generous Act of self-giving and the son loves the father
75:00 - 75:30 back in an absolute gift of self and the Holy Spirit is the result of that love did you know that that's all the holy spirit is the love between the father and the son is so great that it's the holy spirit it's it's it's it's a person and the love between a husband and a wife is so great that that love becomes a person the child fascinating I'm sitting there in seminary when I learned this I'm just
75:30 - 76:00 like oh my gosh why doesn't the whole world know this why isn't every priest teaching this I'm looking around at my seminarians they're sleeping and I'm just like does anybody I'm jumping around does anybody else see the incredible this is amazing if we could teach the world this the world wouldn't be in the mess we're in and so I know I get curious away but that's just that's just me um and
76:00 - 76:30 and so this is all is created by love for God to love persons into existence and for persons to love God back love generates new life and New Life generates new love why how do we mean that love generates New Life the love between a husband and a wife generates a new life the child and that new life generates new love because the child loves the parents
76:30 - 77:00 back it's a reciprocal just like the love between the father and the son and the holy spirit's reciprocal the entire universe is constructed to facilitate the giving and receiving of love love of self of generous self-giving self-donation and receiving the gift of love it's both giving and receiving the meaning of life is found in giving and receiving love said John Paul
77:00 - 77:30 II the meaning of life is found in the giving and receiving of love all right last one Jesus Christ came to Earth merciful love incarnate to repair the damage we did for the love of God St Augustine said love God and do what whatever you want love God do whatever you want and
77:30 - 78:00 this will allow you to pass swiftly in the spiritual life love is the source and Summit of the spiritual life the meaning of life the meaning of the universe it's everything our love can once again reach the heart of the Trinity you can Pierce him it's so funny I was talking to brother Jason Lewis the other day and we we got somehow on the topic of Father Bob and Jason Lewis saidou know God bless father Bob he said ' when he dies it's
78:00 - 78:30 going to be an arrow just shot right into the piercing of the heart of the Trinity because father Bob is that beautiful and I was like man that that is true and so um you know and and when you do that the love flows out what happens to the Heart of Jesus when it was pierced the the spear went through Jesus's side and pierced his heart and what came out the blood and
78:30 - 79:00 the water in full force of his merciful love in any single Commandment that we can summarize in Christianity the Commandment of Love encompasses it all true love Wills the good of the other that's the definition of Love willing the good of the other and it is also though being obedient how are we obedient to God through the church it's it's it's not living a
79:00 - 79:30 lie oh well Johnny will be upset if if we don't Embrace this living in sin no you still love Johnny but you can't love Johnny's sin the theological virtue of Love is built upon the backs of all the other virtues of prudence Justice fortitude temp Temperance faith hope love is built on the back of all that but love does
79:30 - 80:00 not mean condoning their sin love means admonish The Sinner correct them in love always in love in order to love well to know the good of the other and pursue it in a stable right ordered way we need the other virtues or else we are prone to following Passions emotions feelings rather than what is truly good true love is the
80:00 - 80:30 truth it's not giving in and saying what you're doing is okay if they're not parents that children are living in a misguided life however it is if it is being away from the faith same seex marriage transgenderism um you know um Pride uh having abort i s whatever it is the people I admire the
80:30 - 81:00 most are the people that have found that balance and I know some that never give in to saying it is okay what you are doing but I still love you you're my child and I will never stop loving you and I will never ever ever reject you but I
81:00 - 81:30 can't condone your choice so let's keep working together let's keep praying together and let's keep loving each other I know some parents who have been able to do that and they're a huge inspiration for me it's not easy but it's beautiful and I promise you God will use
81:30 - 82:00 that Grace from those parents tears and prayers even if the parents don't see the conversion in this lifetime God never rejects the tears of a mother and the hope of a father even in this life if you never see the conversion read Diary
82:00 - 82:30 1698 the Diary of St fosa Jesus says most conversions happens when you don't see it at the moment of their death when it appears that everything is lost they never had a conversion All Is Lost Jesus says no I come in at that moment with Grace and all your prayers all your hope all your faith all your hope and all your love come in to help that
82:30 - 83:00 Soul incredible incredible and so true love isn't merely a feeling but a choice reported often enough to become a habit and eventually a virtue so a virtue is when your thoughts turn to words your words turn to actions your actions turn to habits your habits develop your character and your character is virtue or vice and so if you repeat it enough the
83:00 - 83:30 good it will become a habit and eventually a virtue a stable disposition to do the good love is not an emotion it's an act of the will nobody feels like changing a dirty diaper at 2:00 in the morning but you do it because you love that person that big baby it is not easy because love and suffering go together yes if we unite our suffering with the
83:30 - 84:00 suffering of Christ it's not meaningless so we have faith hope and love but the greatest of these is love 1 Corinthians 13 and I'm wrapping up I know you guys have been with me for a while here God bless you so how do we live the virtue of love the greatest way is to love God like the greatest disciple Mary that's the greatest way to live the virtue of love the greatest way is to love God like Mary did she was the best
84:00 - 84:30 disciple the love God we must love what he loves and so we should entrust ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary like he did and most of all most especially we should refuse to let our hearts be hardened by the pains and sufferings of Life ask God for the fire of the Holy Spirit to melt any hardened heart forgive forgive
84:30 - 85:00 wow you know we can summarize this now that was the last virtue and I got one more slide if Mark can show up there there is your theological virtues of faith hope and love there they are let's summarize them real quick anyone who who has no faith in God no hope in God and no love of God is not ready for heaven because
85:00 - 85:30 heaven would be hell for them we pray to change their heart there's always hope never give up we could not endure or enjoy the presence of God after death anymore than we do on Earth so this is why they need your prayers the theological virtues are given by the Holy Spirit at baptism or we don't have them supernaturally we can have them
85:30 - 86:00 naturally certainly natural Faith natural hope natural love can exist but as theological virtues they are part of life in the spirit part of the right relationship with God something Supernatural so you can be a good person on this Earth do you know Adolf Hitler you know what he loved animals and little children is that good
86:00 - 86:30 yeah but did he have Supernatural love absolutely not no way so somebody could say well in a way Hitler was good he loved animals and loved little children that's a good thing on this Earth but not supernaturally and in fact his other natural virtues overcame that too his hatred his unforgiveness a
86:30 - 87:00 mess and so sanctifying Grace like that in baptism imparts Supernatural life to the soul including the supernatural virtues Faith open love are the tripod the foundation of all the other virtues if we don't practice virtue we don't get to heaven we practice virtue because heaven is already instilled in us so hear that again we we don't practice virtue to get to heaven we practice virtue because heaven is already in
87:00 - 87:30 us our post-christian world is totally against this our world has unbelief not faith our world has despair not hope our world has selfishness not love these are the pillars of the world our world sees Faith as being naive hope as Wishful things Ing and charity as weakness loss of Faith everywhere if few go to church loss of Hope everywhere
87:30 - 88:00 Rising suicides increased depression and anxiety loss of Love is everywhere in war and man's inh Humanity to man so if you want to summarize all the world's problems I believe we're not baptizing our children that's it it's the loss of the theological virtues they come in baptism and we don't baptize our children they don't have the theological virtues without it life is not have meaning in
88:00 - 88:30 some sense it will be impossible because it will not have any Supernatural Grace which is something we all need to get to heaven we can know God in all that is necessary for salvation by faith in what God has revealed to us we can know what to hope for by what God has promised us and we can know what to live and how how to live our essential moral obligations by practicing charity love of God and neighbor this is what get us to Heaven
88:30 - 89:00 amen amen hallelujah hallelujah God bless all of you thank you so much for hanging in there I appreciate it and your virtue of patience and sticking this out with me is exemplary so you you just EX excise the virtue of patience praise be to God you were with us we'll see you next week I will be back and we'll have another explain in
89:00 - 89:30 the faith series and until then may almighty God bless you the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit go in peace the talk is ended thanks be to God God bless everybody thank you very much Modern Life has become defined by consumerism sometimes called consumptionism in which one's happiness depends on one's quality of life achieved by the attainment of
89:30 - 90:00 material Goods many of us are focused on attaining often unneeded material possessions forgetting about human relationships as a result problems arise in our lives that may prove too difficult to overcome those who cannot accept the fear and shame of failure may even be tempted to take their own lives [Music] if a man who commits suicide acts out of
90:00 - 90:30 confusion or ignorance and is therefore not fully responsible for his ACT his soul will not be condemned Forever by God's perfect Justice he must however in a pitifully painful abandonment wait for his future happiness as many years as he would have waited to die naturally and then he will only begin to make up for the Punishment Due to
90:30 - 91:00 him for