“Habitual Excellence!”
Today’s gospel tells the story of
the Good
Samaritan in which Jesus gives us a graphic example on how we must act
to fulfill the greatest of the commandments. The Samaritan is a virtuous man;
he acts with compassion, gentleness, generosity, humility, self-sacrifice,
self-discipline, justice, courage, respect, and patience. His actions
are unlike those of the priest and the Levite who ignore the victim on the side
of the road and go on their merry way.
Why do we do the things that we
do? The simple answer is that we get in the habit behaving in a certain way. Habits
are our way of responding to certain situations. I suspect helping others came
naturally to the Samaritan. He had, as we say, a habit of lending a helping
hand. We acquire habits through our repeated action. We start out behaving a
certain way and, as we repeat those same actions, they become habits. Habits
can be for the good or for the bad. Throughout our childhood, hopefully, we are
taught to act with kindness so we can develop the habit of being kind. The same
goes for being polite, courteous, friendly, and compassionate, etc. As we grow to
maturity, again hopefully, we have acquired greater capacity to act more
virtuously. Our life’s activities reflect the qualities of our interior moral
life – we are either acting according to the good virtues we have stored up or
the vices that oppose them.
The Greek word for virtue means “habitual excellence” which suggests that
virtues need to be practiced constantly. St. Thomas Aquinas, the foremost
proponent of an ethics of virtue, said that through repetition virtues bring
about a “modification of a subject”. In other words, practicing virtue makes us
virtuous.
The power of the virtues is that
through their possession and exercise we reach the intended purpose of our
lives which happens to be the very question the scholar of the law asks Jesus
today, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
To help us in our efforts to
inherit eternal life, the Fathers of the Church have handed down some very good
tools to help guide us. We have three “Theological” Virtues – Faith, Hope, and
Charity and four “Cardinal” Virtues of Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance.
There is much suffering in our
world today that cries out for an increase in the practice of these virtues by
people of all faiths. May the story of the good Samaritan motivate us to live
more virtuous lives so we can be more faithful to our Christian heritage and
help ease the suffering of our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Enjoy the Day!
Deacon Tom
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