2012-2013 

The Theological Virtues  – Faith, Hope and Love  – are gifts from God! However, there

are also other virtues that we, with God’s help, work to develop within ourselves.

There are many virtues, but the four main ones are the Cardinal Virtues  – Prudence,

Temperance, Justice and Fortitude. 

Hopefully someone has already told you this, but being a faithful Christian and being a

fully human person takes a lot of work! Really! Unfortunately, doing the right thing

does not come naturally or easy to us. The theological word for this is ‘concupiscence’,

which means that we are now inclined to sin. We may want to do the right thing, but

that doesn’t mean that we  do the right thing. Take for example getting up in the

morning. We want to be at work on time, but laziness makes it difficult to get out of 

bed; we know we should eat a healthy breakfast, but either we don’t have time or a

donut sounds so much better! 

In order to overcome concupiscence we need to grow in virtue. God infuses us with the

theological virtues, but we must work hard to develop them. Here are some helpful

hints to grow in virtue:

1. Do it !! – The first step in growing in virtue, or making any habit, is to simply start. If 

you want to be honest, start telling the truth; if you want to be generous, then give

something away. If our goal is to be virtuous, we have to start sometime - why not

now? 

2. Be courageous!!  –  Aim high, and expect that you can be virtuous. Don’t

underestimate yourself. God made us to be amazing, and we shouldn’t expect less of 

ourselves then He does. We often think that things are too difficult and give up before

we even get started. 

3. Allow for mistakes!! – On the road to virtue we will stumble and fall. This does not

mean that we failed. Failure is when you stop trying. When you make a mistake, admit

it, go to Confession if you need to, learn from it and keep trying. Remember, we are on

the road to perfection, but we are not there yet. 

4. Seek help!!  – You will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to grow in virtue

on your own. It is best if your family can work to grow in virtue with you, but if that is

not possible right now, then find support from someone else  – a priest, co-worker, or

friend. The journey is much easier when we have someone walking with us. 

5. Pray !! – The best person to seek help from is God! We work to develop the Cardinal

Virtues within us, but He is there to help. Don’t leave Him out!  

17 March 2013

 

 “To live well is nothing otherthan to love God with all one’sheart, with all one’s soul, andwith all one’s efforts; from thisit comes about that love is keptwhole and uncorrupted(through temperance). Nomisfortune can disturb it (andthis is fortitude). It obeys onlyGod (and this is justice), and iscareful in discerning things, soas not to be surprised by deceitor trickery (and this isprudence).”  

- St. Augustine

Four virtues play a pivotal role

and accordingly are called

‘cardinal’; all the others are

grouped around them. They

are: prudence, justice,

fortitude and temperance.

CCC 1805

The book of Wisdom tells us that 

“moderation and prudence, right-

eousness and fortitude…nothing in

life is more useful than

these.” (Wisdom 8:7) Do you know 

what each of the Cardinal Virtues

are?  

This week, look them up in the

Catechism and read about them. Here

is where they can be found: 

Prudence (1806) 

Justice (1807) 

Fortitude (1808) 

Temperance (1809) 

CHALLENGE

If riches are desirable in life, what is richer than Wisdom, who produces all things? And if prudence is at work,who in the world is a better artisan than she? Or if one loves righteousness, whose works are virtues, She teaches

moderation and prudence, righteousness and fortitude, and nothing in life is more useful than these.Wisdom 8:5-7

Created by Chris Carmody: jesusinsalem@yahoo.com and Stephanie Rangel: beverlyyouthministry@gmail.com