Conferences on the Virtues -2

Conferences on the Virtues

By Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd

Number 2

In the first conference of this series, toward the end, we answered the question: Why must one, at first, force oneself to do what is morally good in a given situation? Now we consider the next logical question: How do I get to know what is morally good in a given situation?

Scripture clearly tells us that we are inclined toward sin from our youth. That inclination is the law in his members that St. Paul mentions in the Scripture passage cited at the end of the first conference (Romans 7:15-24). The law of his mind, which he experiences as being often overcome by the law of his members, is his conscience, which resides mainly in the intellect. But when we are born into this world, our intellect is a clean slate (tabula rasa). So what is in our consciences is put there by outside influences. When he is left to himself, the conscience formed in a person as a result of sense experiences could be simply stated: Whatever gratifies my senses and my flesh, whatever inflates my ego and cresses my pride is good. Whatever causes pain or discomfort or inconvenience to the senses and to the flesh, whatever deflates my ego and wounds my pride is evil. Now it doesn’t require a brilliant philosopher to understand that that kind of a conscience easily and inevitably leads to immorality in almost all interactions with other human beings. It certainly causes one to violate his/her dignity, not only as a child of God through a new creation, but even considered as a mere human being. That is because, as intelligent beings, we are expected to guide our conduct by reason, as opposed to brutish instincts. Worse yet, that kind of conscience causes one to treat other human beings as objects or things, whose sole reason for being is to be a source of selfish gratification for one’s self. This violates the dignity of other human beings as well. Therefore the law of the mind that St. Paul speaks of in his letter to the Romans must be formed in each and every child as it begins to grow toward maturity. Responsibility for that formation in the young rests upon those who have already acquired a conscience and IS in accord with what is True and Good. But the ultimate source of a good (or correct) conscience is God Himself.

Thus we see the importance of the Moral Law given us by God that serves to instruct us. It is quite natural that we should expect guidance from God, because, as our Creator, He brought us into being for a specific destiny, and He knows us perfectly. He intends that we achieve our destiny by willing it, that is, by choosing to attain the good for which He created us. He made us free to choose, but of course, in order to be fair, He lets us know what choices, namely what moral conduct, is going to lead us to the final goal which He desires for us. And that is none other than to be united to Him Who is Supreme Goodness (which beatifies us as to our hearts or wills). God gives us this Moral Law, which is to inform our consciences through Divine Revelation, the Scriptures. Of old He spoke to the Covenant People through Moses and the Prophets of the Old Testament. More recently, He has spoken to us through Jesus, His Incarnate Son. Since His Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven, Jesus continued, and continues, to speak to people of subsequent ages through His Church, upon which He has poured out His Spirit, so that His Church might be able to preserve His teaching intact and free of error in bearing witness to Truth and Goodness. For that purpose He has bestowed upon the Church the special charism (or gift) of Infallibility in matters of Faith and Morals. That Charism resides in the Roman Pontiff, who as successor of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome is the Vicar of Christ on earth.

The Moral Law given to us by God and of which the Church is the guardian and custodian is expressed in two ways, by prohibitive precept and by positive command. The purpose of the prohibitive precepts is to keep us from falling into that immoral conduct to which we are inclined because of fallen human nature. The purpose of the positive commands is to motivate us to perform those good deeds and engage in that good moral conduct to which we ARE NOT inclined, again because of fallen human nature. Faithful observance of the prohibitive precepts (Thou shalt not…) helps to weaken the innate inclination to follow our lower instincts, and makes it easier for us to comply with the positive commands (Love one another as I have loved you). With the passage of time, adherence to the Moral Law given by God helps us to understand, in a non-verbal way, the truth and goodness contained in it. Perseverance in the fulfillment of the positive commands, in particular, helps us to attain to the secret wisdom that is inherent in them.

There is a significant difference, though, between the prohibitive precepts and the positive commands. The former are always rather specific, the latter are always rather general in scope. Notwithstanding the fact that even in the thou shalt not… commandments there is need of clarification as to what particular kinds of conduct are included as subdivisions of each one, the fact remains that every one of the ten commandments refers to a clearly defined area of relationship between Man and God, and between individual human beings. The positive commands have to be general in nature because the number of possible and probable situations that could conceivably arise in human relationships is so immeasurably great that it would be impossible to itemize them all, and then give a specific rule of conduct for each one. It should be evident, therefore, that to acquire a well formed and correct conscience, we need more than the written law. I can think of at least two other sources: one if the good example of unmistakably holy people. The other is the supernatural Charity abiding in one’s soul. As you know, supernatural is a created participation in God’s own essential life of Love, and which is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us. Very likely, though, good example would be of no avail to us without at least a modicum of supernatural Charity in our souls.

The ultimate good example that we need in order to develop any instinct or a taste for what is true and good moral conduct in any given situation is, of course, Jesus Himself. His words and deeds (each throws light upon and helps us correctly to interpret the other. Disclose the highest, most perfect moral truth and goodness because He is the perfect revelation (in human terms) of the Father, that is, of the Divine Nature: Philip, he who sees Me sees the Father, and he who hears Me hears Him Who sent Me. How important it is, therefore, to get to know Jesus Christ as perfectly as possible: This is eternal life, to know You, Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent. And to quote St. John of the Cross (Ascent, Book I, Ch. 13, par. 3): …have an habitual desire to imitate Christ in all your deeds by bringing your life into conformity with His. You must study His life in order to know how to imitate Him and behave in all events as He would. It is in regard to the latter that we learn by painful experience that we must often force ourselves to conduct ourselves as Jesus did.

As we stated above, supernatural charity is also needed if we are to know how to conduct ourselves in accord with what is true and good in a given situation. We all know that we received the supernatural virtues of Faith and Hope as well as the infused moral virtues along with Charity at Baptism. Unfortunately, that fact alone does not guarantee that we are strongly motivated to carry out the recommendation of St. John of the Cross cited above. For that we need moment to moment actual graces, or supernatural stimuli, always at hand, to urge us to want that mind to be in us which was in Christ Jesus, Who although He was God, did not deem Divinity something He should cling to. Rather, He emptied Himself… As one’s conduct is brought more and more into conformity with that of Jesus, one’s share in the essential Love of God, divine Charity, increases proportionately. When perfected, one no longer needs an external written law to advise him/her what the perfectly true and good moral conduct is that is required in any given situation. This is so whether in relationship to God or in relationship to our fellow human creatures.

From what we said in the first conference about the effect of the virtues, namely, that they perfect us both as human beings and as children of God by adoption, it follows that they were inherent in all the actions of Jesus. There can be no doubt that He practiced the four Cardinal Virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude together with all the virtues that are related to, or are subdivisions of, each of them. It cannot be otherwise, since, as a Divine Person in complete possession of the Divine Nature, Jesus could not possibly have done or taught anything that did not embody utter perfection. It would be blasphemy to attribute any imperfection or want of due perfection to Him. We must keep this in the back of our minds as we go on to consider what constitutes the various virtues and to see how they manifest themselves in human conduct. We must keep in mind, too, that by taking stock of whether and to what extent we are making progress in Love of God and of the extent to which we are patterning our lives upon Jesus, our Divinely-Human and Humanly-Divine Model.

One final consideration: What is it like to be in full and perfect possession of all the virtues? How would one experience it? What I am about to say is speculation, but I think it is warranted from what we have been saying so far.

To find oneself habitually inclined to do automatically, that is, by instinct and by second nature, what unerringly is in perfect accord with Truth and Goodness, enables one to have an intimation of how God, the Three Divine Persons, experience their own infinite Blessedness. Whatever God does is by that very fact the Best, the Wisest, the Most Loving, the Most Merciful thing to do. God therefore is free of any kind of constraint. Someone who has attained the perfection of Charity, and thus is in perfect possession of all the virtues, is completely free also of all constraint. Such a one never has to wonder about or question whether he/she has done the right thing. That person enjoys the Blessedness of being able to say: I live, now not I, but Jesus Christ lives in me.

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