Wisdom Wednesday

Work Out Your Salvation A condensed version of a Fathers of Mercy retreat

Understand the Reality of Vice and Virtue - Part III

Vice wants to pull you away from your attempt towards salvation.  God told Saul to stop his patterns of sin.  Man tends to lean towards sin.  Only through God's Grace can you stop sinning.  You need Jesus and the sacraments.  God is not your co-pilot, but your pilot.  the removal of a sinful habit requires work and grace over time. Confusion gives you the opportunity to make a new start with the knowledge that God will give you the grace and strength necessary for you to work out your salvation. 

Padre Pio said, "As long as there is a drop of blood in our bodies, there will be a struggle between good and evil."  Aristotle said, "I count him greater who overcomes his desires than he who overcomes his earthly enemies.  Why? Because it is heardest to overcome the inner struggle of the soul."  St. Thomas Aquinas says, "Sin is against human nature."  St. Peter said, "Root our your vices and sow virtues." 

Virtues guide your thoughts, words, and deeds.  There is a virtue for every vice: pride - humility, greed - generosity, lust - chastity, anger - meekness, envy - brotherly love, sloth - diligence, gluttony - temporance.  The virtues allow you to give your full to an act.  The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.  It is God's Willl for you to grow in virtue.  You should want to grow more virtuous.  You must be virtuous in times of trouble.  Detatchment frees you from any excessive attatchment to something or someone that might draw you away from God.  You must love persons, places, and things according to God's plan.  Passions, emotions, and feelings are not always to be satisfied but are also not always to be denied.  Some causes of sin are not intrensic evils, but the sin is dependent on the person's intentions.  Ask yourself what vices are you strong in and what virtues you need to grow in. 

St. Thomas Aquinas Said, "Good flourishes in the temporate man. Salvation begins with self-knowledge." St. Faustina said, "Oh what comfort that comes from knowledge of self!"  St. John the Baptist called the Pharisees, who lacked self-knowledge, a "brood of vipers."  St. Gerard said, "Be courageous...rely on God and not self."  st. Theresa of Avile said, "All things pass away, but God remains the same."

Delay not your convertion to God.  You must find your inner faults.  You must reform yourself before helping others to reform themselves.  You will know God by understanding your inner self.  Ask the Lord to help you find yourself.  You need Christ in order to know yourself.  The man who knows his faults is at peace in all tribulation due to his self-knowledge.  The most holy are not those who are without faults, but those who try the hardest to end their faults. God's commandments are not burdensome.  Follow what is good and you will be like God.  Temptation to sin never exceeds your ability to deny it with God's grace. Sacraments and prayers strengthen your ability to avoid temptation.  No one can have self-knowledge without trial.  The purpose of the penitential rite in the Mass is to wipe away all venial sin so you can receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist in grace.  Spend your earthly life on the Will of God and not for worldly desires.  Remain in simplicity and peace.  All you need is God.