RBWords - Volume 19 - Number 6: June 2006
Something to Think About
A recent gospel passage in a daily reading dovetailed with a writing project on moral theology to give me a thought or two to share in this space. The passage came from last Wednesday\'s gospel: \"By their fruits, you shall know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.\" (Matt.7:16-17) The writing project involves a textbook in fundamental moral theology for a theology distance learning program in Ireland. It has meant that I am revisiting St. Thomas Aquinas\' treatment of the \"virtues.\" For the textbook, I am writing the sections on \"prudence, temperance and fortitude.\" Somebody else got \"justice.\"
Most of us Catholics will remember those as the \"cardinal\" virtues. They\'re not original with St. Thomas. The Greek and Roman philosphers wrote about them. St. Augustine picked up on them, and St. Thomas and other medieval theologians followed in turn. This return to those important \"virtues\" dovetails with that gospel passage because of a contemporary interest in moral philosophy in \"character development.\" Part of the debate revolves around the question of how people are moral. Are they moral if they \"follow the rules\" or do they \"follow the rules\" because they are moral to begin with? As Jesus says, \"Good trees bear good fruit.\" What are the most essential \"character traits and dispositions\" demanded for living a Christian moral life in this day and age?
Love of God and neighbor is the essential Christian answer. How we do that brings us into contact with those traits within us that enable us to make good choices (prudence), treat others fairly (justice), avoid extremes in food, sexuality, consumer goods, etc. (temperance) and stand fast in the face of difficulty. Christians aren\'t the only folks who are moral, however. But Christians are motivated by faith, hope and love to be prudent, just, temperate and courageous for the sake of God\'s kingdome now and in eternity. It all has an \"ole fashioned\" sound to it, but it also has a very contemporary sound because of the terrible need we have for this message. Teaching our children and ourselves these things is what makes for character development. Those good trees will bear good fruit. IT\'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
It Has Been Said
\"If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seen that OUr Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.\"
from \"The Weight of Glory,\" by C.S.Lewis