Sometimes the best way to think about growing in a virtue is to consider the vices that oppose itex. The vices against the virtue of faith fall into two rough categories. The first category, which we’ll discuss here, contains the vices that keep us from accepting what God reveals about himself. The other category includes [...]
Spiritual Growth and Growing in the Virtue of Hope
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In the last article of this series, we discussed how spiritual growth in the virtue of hope means combatting this errors of despair and presumption. The best way to combat a vice is to replace it with its opposite virtue. So how do we grow in the virtue of hope? Setting the Mindset of Hope [...]
The Relationship Between the Virtue of Faith and Trusting God
Just because the Hebrew people had grown in trust enough to know God more intimately through Moses, the lessons in growing in trust were far from over. In fact, one of the most noted parts of the Exodus story is how fickle the Hebrew people were. They whined in the desert after being rescued from [...]
Moses Learns Intimacy with God - the Virtue of Faith
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Just as God leads us through spiritual growth in a way that harmonizes with human nature, he also led humankind through salvation history in the same way. We saw how God taught Abram to trust him, instilling salvation history in the virtue of hope. It may surprise you to realize that God brought Moses to [...]
The Virtue of Faith: Growing in Intimacy with God
The main goal of spiritual growth is to grow in our relationship with God. The first step of any human relationship is to build trust. As trust strengthens, our relationship grows in the security necessary to open ourselves in intimacy. Intimacy means to truly know another person and be known by that person. It requires [...]
The Virtue of Justice is the Foundation of Relationship
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Spiritual growth includes using the virtue of justice to maximize our relationships. Growth in this virtue begins with our relationships with the people closest to us. The kind of justice we practice in these relationships is called commutative justice. This is a fancy word for justice that is exercised between individual persons. The virtue of [...]
The Virtue of Hope and the Bus Stop
The fruits of spiritual growth from the theological virtue of hope are lived in this life. But the true object of our hope lies at the other end of death. Saint Paul tells us, “In the end, three things remain: faith, hope and love.” Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that faith and hope will no longer [...]
