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Seeking First the Kingdom of God: A Journey Through the Cardinal and Theological Virtues
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November 3, 2023Friday, October 13, 2023
Seeking First the Kingdom of God:
A Journey Through the Cardinal and Theological Virtues
(Readings: Joel 1:1-15 & 2:1-2;
Psalm 9:2-3 & 6; and Luke 11:15-26)Depending on where we are in our relationship with God, it could be considered either a blessing or a cross that God always deals with us justly.
A blessing if we are living a just life, meaning having a firm and constant will to give God and our neighbor their due. Or a cross if we are living a life in which we are focusing on and placing our own will and desires above God and others.
But even then, in His Justice, God loves us so much that He does not give us what we deserve because of our sinful actions. He gives us what is just as His adopted children of whom He desires conversion.
And He never stops reaching out to us trying to draw us closer to Him; even when we are living very sinful lives. As love personified, He will never abandon us!
Justice is one of the four Cardinal Virtues along with Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance. They are called Cardinal Virtues because they play an important role in our life and our relationship with God.
They lead us to do what is right, help us control our passions and morals, and guide our conduct according to faith and reason.
They help us to live God’s way, instead of our way and helping us develop the humility needed to reconcile ourselves with God when we have strayed from Him and sinned.
The catechism tells us in paragraph 1804 that, “These human or moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts, and they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.”
In other words, the more we try to be good by practicing these virtues, the more we find ourselves actually doing good things instead of bad and the more consistently we do good things the more we want to be with God because we are staying in a right relationship with Him.
Concerning Justice specifically, the catechism says that “The just man is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor.”
On a side note, if you don’t have a Catechism of the Catholic Church, go to your local Catholic bookstore and buy one. Every Catholic should have one just as we all should have a good Catholic Bible. The word of God in the Bible and the teachings of his Church found in the Catechism are essential to knowing our faith and, ultimately, truly knowing God.
That being said, it is important we don’t overlook the Theological Virtues of Hope, Faith, and Love, on which the Cardinal Virtues are rooted.
The Theological Virtues are the foundation of the Christian moral life and are the fertile soil from which the Cardinal Virtues grow because they relate directly to God.
In our first reading today, the Prophet Joel is calling the people to repent and do penance, because of their evil ways. He is warning them that the day of the Lord is coming, and they better get ready because God is not going to put up with the way they are living for much longer.
In response, they turn to God, beg Him for mercy, and if we read on later in Joel, we see that God in His Justice does not give them what they deserve, which is severe punishment, but is stirred with concern for His land and took pity on His people, sparing them.
He gives them, as His children, what would be just to a repentant child who humbles himself and returns to his father, much like we hear of in the story of the prodigal son.
The Lord will judge the world with justice. But how does this affect us today?
It shows us that no matter what we have done in our life, God will always be willing to take us back in. No matter how far we have separated ourselves from Him, He will never abandon us.
But we must humble ourselves, surrender to His love and then repent and turn back to the Lord.
We do that by taking part in the Sacrament of Confession, then by practicing the virtues of Prudence (meaning sound judgement), Justice (meaning fairness), Fortitude (which is courage), and Temperance (which is Self-Control).
Instead of developing harmful habits that draw us away from God, we must develop habits of Prayer, Self-Denial, and Works of Mercy that, over time, lead us closer and closer to the Lord, with the ultimate closeness and destination being heaven.
Brother and Sisters, let us always remember and be thankful that our heavenly Father does not give us what we deserve. Because if He did, it would be bad—none of us as sinners would be very happy. But in His love and mercy, God will always judge us with Justice.
Amen.
