Word to the Wise
Saturday, September 13, 2008 - St. John Chrysostom
[1 Corinthians 10:14-22 and Luke 6:42-49]A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.
Many of us can remember from our religious education (especially from the Baltimore Catechism) learning about "the virtues." We learned about the "three theological virtues" of faith, hope and charity, and we learned about the "cardinal" or "moral virtues" of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude! All of these are treated in depth in the SUMMA THEOLOGIAE of St. Thomas Aquinas! (Interestingly enough, the four moral virtues found their original expression in Aristotle's NICOMACHEAN ETHICS and then into St. Augustine's THE CITY OF GOD and from there to St. Thomas Aquinas.) St. Thomas treats of considerably more "virtues" than those. I can recall an exhaustive treatment of all of them by my novice master in the novitiate, oh so many years ago! Although a systematic treatment of the "virtues" does not seem to be a constituent part of religious education anymore, the "virtues" have found their way back into serious ethical study in recent years. This has been particularly true in biomedical ethics, which I attempt to teach at St. Catharine College. Although "virtue theory" appears in a popular way in the Wisdom literature of the Bible, it appears more in the form of "sayings." The statement from Jesus, quoted above, very succinctly reveals the importance of the "virtues." They are a disposition to consistently act in a particular way.that produces morally and ethically good results. The existence of these traits in a person, collectively considered, is called their "character." That is why we can speak of a person of "good character." For example, we may speak of the virtue of "integrity," which disposes a person to stand up for what is right even when it is inconvenient or even dangerous to do so. In the field of health care, certain virtues are very important, such as integrity, compassion, discernment, conscientiousness, etc.. The lack of these virtues can be dangerous to patients. Financial and political scandals reveal the lack of virtues as well. In short, "virtue theory" studies the importance of instilling positive traits in human society so that everyone can live in peace. A reflection on the people we know, or even on our own character, in the light of Jesus' statement may help us to realize our own strengths and weaknesses in faith and moral conduct. As the image later on in today's gospel scripture shows, the virtues are the rock on which our character is built. They are the fullness of heart. AMEN
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