Virtue in General
Excerpt from The Groundwork of Christian Perfection
After we have laid aside sin and vice in a attitude of charity we now have the foundation from which to build Christian perfection but we have yet to begin the important work of actualizing it in our lives. We have only removed the obstacles to such a life. In order to gain true spiritual perfection we must do the work, that without, there is no salvation. These good works are accomplished through the practice of virtue, in particular through the Theological and Cardinal Virtues. This is accomplished through developing habits - of Prayer, Truth, Temperance, Reverence for God and the things of Religion, etc, — that once properly inculcated will allow us more easily to practice these virtues. Finally, we should also take heed to the Evangelical Counsels, those recommended practices that our Lord suggests, that while not obligatory, are of great benefit to a life of spiritual perfection.
Yours in Jesus and Mary.
From the book The Groundwork of Christian Perfection by Reverend Patrick Ryan (Benzinger Brothers, 1910, pages 29-36).
Virtue in General
We have already seen that man's Perfection consists in Charity — in the love of God and of our neighbor. We have also proved that all are bound to become perfect. That there are degrees of perfection. That the knowledge of God leads us to love Him.
We have also shown that we must remove the obstacles to Charity, viz. sin and vice. But although we may have done a great deal towards the attainment of perfection when we have removed the obstacles thereto, still, we have done nothing more than lay the foundation on which to build our edifice of Christian Perfection.
If a garden is covered with weeds and rubbish what is the first thing to be done with it? The undesirable things must be removed. The weeds must be got up root and branch. The land must be dug and cleaned.
And when this is done, the garden must be planted with flowers, fruits, and vegetables, before the owner can expect a good return for his hard labor.
In the spiritual life we have to do something after the same manner. We have to cast out the undesirable things — the obstacles to the attainment of Perfection. But when we have done this we cannot fold our arms and look on, and say that all is right now that we have got rid of sin. This would not do, we must begin to plant virtue in our souls, and to nurture it, so that it may grow and increase and bring forth fruit when the time comes.
Let us take another illustration: there is a dirty house and the owner is about to put it into a decent, habitable condition. What must he do? He must first clean it — remove the dirt — let in the fresh air — and purify the place.
When the house is clean a person may say of it, it is a nice house now, compared to what it was, but it wants to be furnished. So it will not do for us to cast out sin; we must also practice virtue and adorn our souls.
When we have cast out sin we are, as it were, in a proper state to make a start in the Spiritual life, and in a proper way to avail of the means which God has given us for our sanctification.
And here we may point out that all Christians may be divided into two classes, viz.
(1) those who are still entangled in grievous sins, or who are still held prisoners in the bonds of depraved affections and sinful occasions. To such persons it is useless to speak about practicing the virtues, or Evangelical Counsels. For them the first necessity is to heal the grievous wounds of sin, and to restore the soul to a life of grace.
They must rather be directed to meditate on the great Eternal Truths, on the enormity of sin; the Sufferings and Death of our Divine Lord for man's Salvation. There are numerous and excellent books on these subjects. It is outside the scope of the present little work to write for the instruction of this class of persons. We have rather set ourselves the task of directing people who are on the road to Salvation, telling them of things which they ought to do so that they may advance in the way of perfection.
(2) Those who have set themselves free from mortal sin. Such persons must fix their eyes steadily on the perfection belonging to their state in life and employ the means for the attainment of it. Ever keeping the prize before their eyes, and ever striving to advance step by step to the highest perfection.
We have now to enquire what are the means to be employed? There must be some means, as we have already shown, for God never imposes an obligation without giving the means for attaining it. In temporal affairs we can attain no object without employing the means. It is the same in Spiritual matters. We have an object to attain, viz. Charity, and we cannot attain it without having recourse to the means.
In the last Chapter we saw in a general way that the practice of the virtues, is the great means of acquiring Charity.
The love of God shows itself in the practice of virtue, that is, in the performance of good works. St. James says, “As the body without the Spirit is dead: so also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26)
“The proof or trial of love is the performance of deeds." (St. Gregory, Horn. XXX. in Evan.)
We must therefore do good works. In other words we must practice the different virtues, both Theological and Moral.
Theological virtues are so called because they relate immediately, or directly to God. They are virtues which we could never acquire by our own powers. They are infused into our souls at Baptism, and when we come to the use of reason we ought to rouse them up by making acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity.
When we exercise any one of the Theological virtues our act begins and ends with God. For example, when we make an act of faith it is God's word we believe in, and the reason why we believe God's word is because it is God, who is Truth itself, who speaks.
There is nothing so conducive to the love of God as to make acts of these virtues frequently during our lives.
The other virtues relate directly to God's creatures, and indirectly to God Himself; for example, the virtue of obedience relates directly to the superior, but indirectly to God. It is the superior we obey, but the reason we obey the superior is, because the superior holds in our regard the place of God.
In the following Chapters it will be necessary to treat the Theological and Moral virtues more in detail. In the present Chapter we will confine ourselves to explaining the nature of virtue, the different kinds of virtues, and the relations between them.
Virtue in general may be briefly defined as “a habit of right conduct,” or as “a habit that is operative of good.” St. Augustine defines Virtue as “a good quality of the mind whereby a man lives rightly, and which no one uses wrongly, which God works in us without our aid.”
The last clause, however, as St. Thomas observes, does not belong to virtue generally, but serves to distinguish infused from acquired virtue.
Virtue implies a permanent disposition. Restraint upon a particular occasion does not necessarily imply virtue. Virtue is in the intellect and in the will and combines both in its exercise. Virtue then signifies at the same time a power and a facility, enabling us to do good works with cheerfulness.
A habit is “a quality of the mind permanently determining it according to its nature or operation.” To the words determining or inclining it according to its nature or operation we must, in the case of virtue, superadd the idea of good.
Habit is from the Latin habere: to have permanently. A habit is a facility which we get from repeated acts. Repeated acts cause an impression, for instance, if a man is accustomed to take his dinner at a certain hour every day, when that time comes he begins to feel that he wants his dinner.
The mind and will also can get a certain bent by repeated acts. Habits have effects upon the intellect and will. From this it is evident that great care should be taken to instill good habits into the minds of the young in the course of their education. The young mind can be inclined to virtue just as a young sapling can be made to bend in any direction that is desirable. It is too late to bend the tree when it is grown up. It is also too late to form good impressions upon the mind and will when repeated acts of vice have produced their effects and given it a wrong bent.
It is therefore of the greatest importance to instill into the minds of the young, habits of Prayer, Truth, Temperance, Reverence for God and the things of Religion, etc. Most people have knowledge enough. It is not knowledge, as a rule, that is wanting, but the will to do what is morally right.
Virtue is acquired or infused. Acquired virtue comes from ourselves, and is acquired by repeated acts on our part. Infused virtue comes from God, and is deposited in the soul without concurrence on our part. The object of acquired virtue is what we can do ourselves. The object of infused virtues is what God works in us.
The virtues which can be only infused are called Supernatural. The others are known as acquired virtues. Every virtue may be said to give a power and a facility. Supernatural virtue primarily gives a power. Acquired virtue primarily gives a facility.
An illustration will best help us to understand this point — a man knows nothing about digging, he begins to dig — after a time he acquires a facility from the repeated acts, later on he finds that he is able to dig. He has thus got to be able to dig, and the labor has become easy to him. In the same way, every time a person resists a temptation he gets a facility, and in the course of time gets a power of resisting temptations which a man has not who is not so accustomed to fight against temptation.
We have now to inquire what virtues are infused, and what virtues are acquired. It is of faith, that the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity are infused. It is agreed amongst Theologians, but it is not of faith, that the Four Cardinal Virtues are infused. The other virtues are to be taken account of, and judged as they arise. They may be infused, or acquired, or both.
Take an illustration: one man earns a hundred pounds, another man gets a present of the same amount, while a third man earns fifty pounds and gets a present of fifty more. All three have the same amount, but they have acquired it in different ways.
Theologians teach that besides the infused virtues there are given to man the Gifts of the Holy Ghost for his comfort and sanctification. It is not of faith, that they are infused, but St. Thomas teaches that these gifts are given by God to every just man, and that they are most conducive to his eternal salvation: moreover they are the special aids which render the Christian man capable of extraordinary and heroic acts. The general opinion is that the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are a part of the life of every good Christian, and that they are given at Baptism. Whether they are distinct from the moral infused virtues is not agreed upon. They are like suggestions.
Supernatural virtue gives the power of acting rightly; then the Gifts of the Holy Ghost come in and give a facility.
An illustration will help us to understand this point: take a boy at school, he is put a question, the boy at first hesitates, and fails to answer the question, he gets a hint which puts him on the right track and then he explains everything to the satisfaction of his questioner.
The Theological and infused Moral Virtues are concomitants of sanctifying grace, and every increase of grace gives an increase of infused virtues.
We must now explain the connection between the different virtues.
The Theological Virtues are the fountains and roots of the “Dona” or Gifts of the Holy Ghost. The Dona while they are like streams springing from the Theological Virtues become in turn the fountains and roots of the Moral Virtues. The Moral Virtues put into practice the good works which the Gifts of the Holy Ghost inspire man with a holy desire and inclination to do.
In the relationship of all the Virtues with one another we are always to regard the Theological Virtues as the fountain-heads from which all the others in rotation flow. All other Virtues can be traced up to them, and they come directly from God. God is therefore the beginning and the end of all Virtue.
It remains to say a few words about the Evangelical Counsels. Our Divine Lord in the Gospel has recommended to His followers the practice of voluntary Poverty, perpetual Chastity, and entire Obedience. These recommendations of Our Divine Lord are called Evangelical Counsels. They are called Counsels, because they are not of strict precept. He has only advised and recommended the practice of them as a means of greater perfection.
Voluntary Poverty is a free renunciation of the goods of fortune, in order to be less distracted in striving for those that are eternal. “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)
Perpetual Chastity is a free and perpetual renunciation, not only of all impure pleasure, but even of marriage, in order that we may render undivided service to God. “Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord: but I give counsel . . . . He that giveth his virgin in marriage doth well: and he that giveth her not, doth better.” (1 Corinthians 7:25, 28)
“If any one shall say that the marriage state is to be preferred to the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain, in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony, let him be anathema.” (Council of Trent, session 24, Can. 10).
Entire Obedience is a renunciation of one's own will, in order to do the Divine Will more surely under a superior who represents God.
By Voluntary Poverty all attachment to the riches of the world is plucked away from the heart.
By Chastity the lust of pleasure is conquered.
Obedience roots out all adhesion to our own will and thus enables us to do the Will of God more easily.
The Evangelical Counsels remove obstacles and in this way are a great help to the attainment of the highest perfection.