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Dear Friend, It’s hard to watch the incessant rioting, burning, violence and tearing down of our heritage taking place in our cities right now. People of faith, good will and peaceable
disposition do not do these things. In fact, we are the very people
who can supply the most effective solution to this nation’s problems:
a return to virtue. What a radical idea! It’s the very absence of virtue in public and private that has brought all this destruction, isn’t it? The chaos in our cities is really the fruit of a worldview that sees everything in society and human relationships in terms of power and politics. This worldview leads to one place only… …a game of survival of the fittest. But that is not what God wants for us or for our nation. All of the venerable creators of the US Constitution were at least rooted in a vision of objective truth, the rule of law and the moral rights and obligations of citizens toward one another. How did we lose that integral vision of our sovereign nation? Where did the Ten Commandments go? Why are the radicals taking aim at both our Founders and the very practice of the Christian faith now? How do we get our nation back? Return to Virtue As we said above, the answer to the violence and to all these other questions revolves around a return to virtue, both personally and communally. And we don’t mean virtue as an abstract concept. We mean a return to THE VIRTUES, those transcendent realities that the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says help us “to become like God.” A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The goal of the virtuous life is to become like God. (CCC,1803) Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a little more goodness in society now?! But if goodness is lacking in society, that means it is lacking in the souls of men. We must break the vicious cycles of violence and degradation and be the ones to put goodness back into society through deliberate acts of renewed virtue. This is our challenge and it begins right here and now with each one of us. Theological Virtues Over the next four weeks, Catholic Action for Faith and Family plans to assist you in this task by reviewing the wondrous theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. We start at the beginning, with the virtues that come directly from God. Most of us probably do not remember our Baptism, but in that foundational event of our spiritual lives we received our first infusion of these great gifts from God. Perhaps we embraced these virtues more diligently at our Confirmation and began to ask more fervently for them each time we say the first three beads on the Holy Rosary. The whole spiritual life derives from these virtues, and in the next three weeks we will send you a “refresher” on the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity so that both we and you can do a deeper reflection on our dependence on the grace of God as the foundation of our spiritual and moral lives It’s our goal to strengthen and vivify the understanding of these virtues – one soul at a time! Each of us can do no more than the mustard seed – small in size compared to the overall problem, but mighty in power when God gives the growth. Ongoing Program Our discussion of growth in virtue will start with the theological virtues, and in months to come we will address the cardinal virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude) as the foundation of our way of living in the human community. Stay tuned for our emails on the theological virtues these next few weeks: Faith: Hope: Charity: And just maybe, with this radical solution to our nation’s basic virtue problem, we can take our society back from the anarchists and help every soul to turn back to God! And please pray for us as we pray for you and your families! Your friend in Jesus and Mary, Thomas J. McKenna
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