The Life of Virtue - Truth

Veritas or truth is one of the mottos of the Order of Preachers and one which goes to the very heart of our mission and to the heart of what it means to be a Christian. The truth, though often expressed in many and varied ways, is one, for truth not only has God as its source but, as Aquinas states, God ‘is truth itself, the supreme First Truth’. If then we understand God to be Truth and the source of truth we must see His Son, Jesus Christ, as the full manifestation of that truth. As Christ himself declared before Pilate “for this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). Elsewhere in John we are reminded that we are to live by his truth and that ultimately this truth is to be found in His word, “if you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).

As Christians we are duty bound to follow and to seek the truth and we are truly fortunate insofar as we have Christ’s Body, the Church, to lead us and guide us on this journey. However, this does not mean that we can rest on our laurels and expect others to do all the work for us. We must each take responsibility for seeking the truth in our own lives and for providing a credible witness to the truth for others. In the Summa theologiae, Aquinas reminds us that we must be careful to acknowledge the truth about ourselves and that in expressing the truth we find we must seek a balance between boasting and understatement if we are to cultivate truth as a virtue. Truthfulness in our daily lives is essential if we are to point to and to realise that ultimate truth we naturally seek. We rely on each others' truthfulness and, as Aquinas again states, we are honour bound to express it. As such truth resembles justice and is allied to it – without truthfulness we simply could not live with each other let alone hope to seek and follow the ultimate truth that is the Word made flesh. It is clear then that love and truth must underpin our thoughts, words and deeds. As St Paul tells us, by “speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

The Life of Virtue - Vindication

When we hear the word Vindication, or Vengeance, virtue is probably not the first thing we would think of to describe it. We tend to think of vindication as something undesirable at best and sinful at worst, the desire to see oneself triumph over another, to demonstrate that we are right and to show the world that they are wrong. Most of the connotations that the word vindication has in popular usage we would not normally regard as particularly Christian.

Nevertheless, Scripture and Tradition are both clear that there is a place for a virtue of vindication within our faith, when the term is properly understood. St. Thomas understands vindication to be when someone seeks to punish the sin of his brother by imposing some penalty on him. In judging whether this is a good act or not, the crucial thing to keep in mind is the intention of the person who imposes the penalty. If the intention of the one who seeks to punish is focused on the evil committed by his brother and does not move beyond this then it must be understood to be completely unlawful. This kind of vengeance is in danger of itself becoming sinful, since to take pleasure in or get some kind of satisfaction out of the sin of another does great harm to the charity that should exist between brothers and sisters in Christ, who should seek to encourage one another in the life of virtue. If, however, the intention of the one who seeks to punish is to bring out a greater good, if he hopes that the sinner might turn from his evil deeds when punished, for instance, then it a lawful and righteous thing to do. Of course, care should be taken that the punishment itself is not unlawful and that it is not disproportionate to the severity of the crime committed.

Furthermore, only those who are in a position of legitimate authority, whether that is the authority of parents, religious superiors, or lawful governments, for example, can righteously undertake to punish another for their misdemeanours. Thomas, following Aristotle, regards just vindication as a virtue because it can lead a miscreant away from harm and back onto the path that leads to life eternal with Christ our Lord, the exemplar of all virtue and the one who has won vindication over all the sin of the world.

News from Edinburgh ...

We have received further news on the new chapel at Blackfriars, Edinburgh from former Godzdogz contributor Fr Bruno Clifton. You can read about the current situation here Keeping the Door Open No 2.pdf and you can keep in touch also through the website here.

The Life of Virtue - Gratitude

Whilst most people would agree that we should be grateful for the good things we have received, thanking someone is not always the first thing that comes to mind when we receive something good from them. In Luke's Gospel, when Jesus healed the ten lepers, only one of them came back to thank him. The inclination to give thanks is the virtue of gratitude and it perfects our capacity for acknowledging the benefits we have received.

Gratitude is the part of justice whereby we pay what is due to our benefactors. It is distinguished from the virtue of religion by which we pay what is due to God and piety by which we pay what is due to our parents. Ultimately God is the source of all good things, and so all our indebtedness is primarily due to Him, but part of the debt we owe to God is to be paid by honouring our parents and showing gratitude to our benefactors.

[left: the winning contrada (district of the city) gather in the cathedral of Siena to thank Our Lady for their victory in the palio]

St Thomas argues that as far as possible, we should always show gratitude to our benefactors, but the way and the extent to which we show our gratitude will vary according to circumstances. People may do us favours for a variety of mixed motives, but when we excel in the virtue of gratitude, we more readily see the good in people's actions rather than the evil, and it is for the good that we give them thanks.

St Thomas also gives advice on the manner in which we should thank our benefactors. For an act to be benevolent, it doesn't depend so much on the deed itself, but rather on the heart of the benefactor being directed to the good of the beneficiary. Likewise, the gratitude shown to a benefactor originates in the heart. It doesn't matter if someone is too poor to give a benefactor anything they might need. No matter how poor someone is, they can still show honour and speak well of someone else. In other situations, it may be possible for a beneficiary to show their gratitude to a benefactor by doing some act of kindness in return. In such situations there is the danger a favour might be returned out of a desire not to be indebted to someone rather than out of a sense of gratitude. But part of the virtue of gratitude is being happy to be indebted to someone. The virtue of gratitude involves choosing the appropriate moment for repaying a favour.

The great challenge in being truly grateful, is that it is not enough just to return what has been received. Since the original gift was freely given, the favour returned should also be freely given. This implies something more has to be paid back, and we are only able to do this if we let gratitude flow from our hearts.

Saints This Month - 22 July, Mary Magdalen Secondary Patron of the Order of Preachers

St. Mary Magdalene is the secondary patron of our Order with good reason. She was the first to witness the resurrection of our Lord and she was the first to preach it! She rightly deserves the title “Apostle to the Apostles”.

The character of Mary is a subject of much debate and controversy. Tradition has identified her as a repentant prostitute and adulteress. Pseudo-historical ‘research’, pulp-fiction, and early second century heresies have tried to suggest that she was married to Jesus (the Golden Legend notes that “some say she was married to St. John the Evangelist"). What we know from the Gospels is that Jesus cast out seven demons from within her and that she followed Our Lord to Jerusalem and was at the foot of the cross during the crucifixion. The Gospel of John has Mary arriving early on Easter Sunday morning to anoint the body of Jesus. At first she did not recognise the Risen Lord but after He called her name she recognised him and exclaimed “Rabboni!” Our Lord commanded her then to go to the disciples.

One interesting tradition attached to Mary is Easter eggs. It is said that she was called to the Emperor Tiberius and the Imperial household where she preached the risen Christ. The pagan emperor took a white egg in his hand and mocked the Apostle saying that such an event was as likely as the egg he held turning red. As might be expected, the egg turned red.

Mary is an example to all Christians of true discipleship. We must all encounter and recognise Jesus but we must also follow him to Calvary and the cross. It is not enough merely to observe, but like Mary, we must proclaim the risen Christ to the whole world.

The Life of Virtue - Obedience

Dominicans only make one public vow when they make profession, and that is the vow of obedience. This is because the other two evangelical counsels of poverty and chastity are covered by one's primary attitude of obedience. Unsurprisingly, then, for St Thomas Aquinas, obedience is the most "praiseworthy" of the moral virtues because obedience means that our will is directed towards God's will and his laws.

Indeed, St Thomas likens obedience, by which one prefers God's goodness to all other goods and wills this before all other things, to martyrdom. Again, this is not surprising given the character of the ascetical religious life which arose in the Church after (and as a substitute for) the era of persecution and martyrdom in the early Church. As such, there is a strongly ascetical element to obedience. After all, it is easy to 'obey' if it is the fruit of discussion and one comes to some kind of consensus. That is a certain ideal pro-pagated by some, but it is not often practicable. Rather, obedience requires us to let go of our own fears and plans, and to trust fundamentally in the one whom we are obeying. Thus, the friar who makes profession prostrates himself and asks for mercy from God and his brothers, entrusting his life into their hands.

From the foregoing, we can see that obedience is a virtue that is directed not just to God alone, but also to superiors (and secular rulers) who act, as it were, on behalf of God, and have our salvation and the common good in view. However, this also means that one is only bound to obey in things which are not contrary to God's law and which do not violate the common good. Thus, St Thomas distinguishes three levels of obedience: "one, sufficient for salvation, and consisting in obeying when one is bound to obey; secondly, perfect obedience, which obeys in all things lawful; thirdly, indiscreet obedience, which obeys even in matters unlawful". The last of these is thus not an act of virtue but falls short of the good that motivates all virtuous acts.

Of course, the obedience that we offer to God is ultimately inspired by the obedience of the Son to the Father. Jesus' will was perfectly attuned to the Father's because he loved and willed that which the Father willed: the salvation of the world. Thus, the Dominican Constitutions say: "by this profession in a special manner we imitate Christ who was always subject to the Father's will for the life of the world, and thus we are united more closely with the Church, for whose growth, together with the brethren and under the leadership of superiors representing God in their human ministry, we are dedicated for the common good of the Church and of the Order".

Obedience is probably the most difficult of the three evangelical counsels, for our will and our pride is always strong and we have a certain 'instinct' for self-preservation. Obedience seemingly runs contrary to this and requires us to empty ourselves of what we want (and think we need, even) and to sacrifice that for the greater good. As St Gregory said: "when we humbly give way to another's voice, we overcome ourselves in our own hearts". The sacrifice that Christ offered to the Father is thus so perfect because He, who was equal to God, humbled himself and became obedient even unto death. We too can do the same if we follow his example and place our trust, our hope, and our faith in God, and in those whom His Providence raises up as superiors and leaders in the Church and the world.

The Life of Virtue - Dulia

The virtue of dulia, or honour, is concerned with recognising excellence. For Aristotle, it was only right that people who lived lives of great virtue should be shown respect and honoured, especially after they had died and their whole lives could be seen as an example of excellence. Indeed, such a practice is often seen in many part of the world, where great figures in political, military or public life are commemorated by memorials such as statues.

St Thomas Aquinas accepts Aristotle's idea that honour is a virtue, but in his usual way renders it Christian. We show honour to people precisely by external signs like statues, just as was the case for the ancient Greeks. The difference is what we are honouring. According to the Christian idea of dulia, honour is due to those who have excelled in their living out of their faith. What we are doing is recognising their 'excelling goodness' (ST IIa IIae qu. 103. art. 2). And for us, this means showing honour to the saints by our various observances. We may honour the saints in many ways, for example by veneration of relics, icons and other holy images. And most importantly perhaps, we honour the saints, recognising that they are with God, when we ask them to intercede for us.

It is a popular misconception about Catholics that they are involved in worship of the saints. But this is not the case, since there is a difference in the kind between the reverence that we show towards the saints and the worship we offer to God. When we honour the saints, we are recognising that they lived exemplary lives and were conformed to Christ. In worshiping God, we recognise that He is the source of all goodness and holiness, the one who made it possible for the saints to reach perfection in their Christian lives.

Our Little Feathered Brothers

Puffin numbers are declining in one of Britain’s key colonies. In five years the population of Puffins on Farne Island, off the coast of Northumberland in England has decreased by a third. This has puzzled scientists and researchers from the University of Newcastle have begun an investigation into their demise. Why however would I mention these lovable birds? Well I feel an affiliation to these beasts.

Puffin is a modification of the old Anglo-Norman word pophyn or poffin but the proper Latin name for these marvellous creatures is Fratercula or Little Brother. This name refers to the similarity of the birds’ white and black plumage to the habit of our Order. Ignoring the colourful beak, the Puffin resembles a cappa-wearing friar with his capuce up. The beak however can be said to resemble our preaching of the Gospel - the primary mission of our Order and of every Christian. The glory of the Gospel supersedes all colours of the spectrum; but when we preach we should aim to proclaim the Gospel in a way that stands out within the humdrum world as the beak of the Puffin stands out from its monochrome colouring.

The Life of Virtue - Observance

If religion is the virtue that enables us to be 'just' towards God, and piety is the virtue that enables us to be 'just' toward our parents - in the sense of acknowledging our indebtedness to them and showing them gratitude and honour - then observance is the virtue that enables us to show respect to others who end up in authority over us. There is a certain dignity going with the responsibilities of authority and government, Aquinas says, an 'excellence and power' that give such persons a special status and duty. In virtue of their status we ought to honour them, and in virtue of their duty we ought to show them reverence.

Piety is prior to observance, he thinks, because it is concerned with people who are bound more closely to us, our parents who have given us birth and have overseen our education. It can be extended to include the gratitude and respect who show to our patria, 'the land of our birth'. (Think of how often people refer to the 'fatherland' or 'motherland'.) The virtue of observance is concerned with others whose involvement in our lives is important but less so than that of our parents or kin. 'Blood is thicker than water' seems to be what Aquinas is getting at here.

His account of this virtue is one of the places where we can detect a strongly medieval flavour in his thought and it gives us a glimpse of medieval social mores. But it remains relevant. A moment's reflection on the cult of celebrity shows us 'observance gone mad'. People give honour and show reverence to 'screen goddesses' and others who have achieved 'iconic' or 'cult' status. (Note the religious language we use.) Aquinas's concern is that such honour and reverence be observed only where someone has great and genuine personal value for the way they serve a community or otherwise live a life worthy of dignity.

The Life of Virtue - Piety

If religion is the virtue of giving God his due then what, we might ask, is piety? This is a bit of a trick question, because when St Thomas talks about piety, he is not thinking principally of our relationship with God, but of that with our parents and our country. For him, it is filial piety and patriotism that are the fundamental forms of this virtue, which is associated with giving what is due (hence its association with justice) to those from whom we derive our existence.

Obviously, in common parlance piety does generally refer to religious devotion, giving due service to God, and for St Thomas this is an appropriate analogy, because clearly if honour is due to our parents as the origin of our being, it is due all the more so to God, who is the source of our being in a far more fundamental way (and it is in this sense, of course, that we refer to God as ‘Our Father’). Our dependence on God, though, is of such a different order that the virtue of acting in an appropriate relation to him has a separate identity (the virtue of religion), and it is only by analogy that we call it piety.

So what does the practice of this virtue involve? Basically, it demands that we give what is due to our parents (and, by extension, our family and society), and that this is not merely in terms of honour, but also of material support where needed: indeed, we find that the demands of piety are significant enough to be expressed in the fourth commandment, ‘honour your father and your mother’ (Deut 5: 16). Thus, the exercise of this virtue entails a realisation that, as human beings, we necessarily exist in relation to others: we are not completely isolated individuals, but people with parents who brought us into the world, and a native society in which we grew up (except in very rare cases). Put in terms of the virtue of justice, by our very existence (which we owe to others) we contract debts we can never fully repay. This too we clearly see to a pre-eminent degree in our relation to God, and so again we see the analogical relationship between our duty of honour and support to our earthly parents and that of service to our Father in heaven.

The Life of Virtue - Vows and Oaths

Modern English usage seems to have lost the distinction between a ‘vow’ and an ‘oath’. Often these words are used interchangeably. This blurring of the two terms is unfortunate, as when the words are used properly, they express two different dynamics of our relationship with God.

A vow is a promise, a special type of promise that is made to God. This promise to God differs from our earthly promises. When we make promises to other people, it is to the benefit of the person to whom we make the promise. When we make a promise to God; it is of no benefit to God but to us. As St. Augustine says, What is given to Him is given to the giver. When we make a vow we fix our will on what is fitting to do, namely the worship and service of God.

An oath is calling God to witness a proposition that cannot be confirmed by necessary reason. With an oath, unlike a vow, we take from God rather than give to Him. We take His testimony and witness. We can be confident that these are true because He is Truth: He cannot lie nor is anything hidden from Him. When we swear an oath by God, we acknowledge His unfailing truth and omniscience: we express our faith in Him. It is therefore a grave sin to use an oath frivolously. By doing so we show irreverence to God.

Whilst it would seem that swearing oaths is an act of reverence to God, many object to it on account of the words of Our Lord in the Gospel of Matthew: but I say to you not to swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king (Matt 5:34-35). Jesus does not, however, forbid us from swearing 'by God' but 'by creation'. When we do this we raise what is creaturely to the level of the divine. When we swear by creation we are actually cursing what we call to witness. However we may swear by certain creatures that reflect the Divine Truth of God, such as Mary, the Saints, and the Gospel. Here we are not swearing by the creatures themselves but by their reflection of Divine Truth.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that, following St Paul (2 Corinthians 1:23; Galatians 1:20), the tradition of the Church has understood Jesus' words as not excluding oaths made for grave and right reasons. The holiness of the divine name demands that we not use it for trivial matters (see CCC §§2153-55).

The Life of Virtue - Sacrifice

In almost all religions the offering of sacrifice plays a prominent if not central role. We naturally and correctly perceive God, the source of all things, to be superior to us and as such it follows that we express our subjugation to Him by the offering of what Aquinas calls ‘sensible signs’. This offering of ‘sensible things’ as a recognition of God’s authority and the honour and praise which is rightly due to Him is therefore an act of natural justice. Sacrifice may be viewed broadly as being either interior or exterior; however, all exterior sacrifices really symbolize an interior sacrifice in which souls offer themselves to God as the source of all creation and as the end in whom they find their happiness. This is why all sacrifice should be, properly speaking, offered to God alone out of reverence. Aquinas, in speaking of virtue, states that “the act of any virtue takes on the character of sacrifice inasmuch as it aims at participating in this holy society with God.”

Sacrifice, derived from the Latin sacrum facere - to make something sacred - implies actually doing something to the object we offer. For this to occur four things are needed; a sacrificial

gift, a sacrificial minister, a sacrificial action and a sacrificial end or object. If the offering is consumed then, properly speaking it is a sacrifice whereas those objects offered which remain intact are simply offerings. In the Old Testament sacrifice derived its expiatory power from the blood of the victim but in the New Testament we read “you know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors not with perishable things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Though Christ’s whole life was one of continual sacrifice it was in His suffering and death upon the cross that this ultimate sacrifice culminated and won for us the forgiveness of sins and our redemption in restoring the order of justice which we had lost through rebellion. As stated, sacrifice is an outward sign of an inward gift to God and as such the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, which restored our relationship with God, is truly pleasing to God. We can see how the offering of the Mass also fulfils this understanding of sacrifice and, though presented differently, is identical with

Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. For Aquinas the Mass is “at one and the same time a figurative re-presentation of Christ’s Passion, and thereby a true sacrifice, and a channel of the fruits of His suffering, whereby the latter are rendered efficacious for our redemption, and thereby a true sacrament.”

Sacrifice is then, ultimately an act of self surrender to God, whereby we render to Him the praise and reverence that is due through the offering of some ‘sensible object’ in recognition of His complete authority. The highest example of sacrifice can be seen in the complete self surrender and sacrifice of Christ upon the cross for our redemption. This sacrifice is now re-presented for us in the Mass, in which the ordinary objects of bread and wine become the true body and blood of Christ, and through which we have a foretaste of our final transformation and glorification in Him.

The Life of Virtue - Adoration

For St. Thomas, adoration is primarily an interior act whereby the human being recognises his nothingness before God, comes to appreciate something of God’s greatness and is thus moved to worship him. As it requires the human being to recognise the awesome stature of God before he can adore Him, adoration first requires a certain amount of humility and right knowledge so that our natural righteous inclination to worship does not lead us to bow down to false gods and commit idolatry.

Adoration is primarily an interior disposition of the will but because human beings are composite creatures, made up of matter and spirit, it is proper to our nature that our adoration of the one true God should be expressed through our physicality. So our worship becomes also an exterior act, taking on various bodily postures in the Sacred Liturgy and in private devotion. The founding of the Dominican Order took place in part to combat the Albigensian heresy that denied the goodness of the material world and so it should not surprise us that the early Dominicans emphasised the holiness of the body in their prayer. Indeed, our Holy Father St. Dominic is known to have prayed even in his private prayer in a bodily manner, something that was recorded in the classic Dominican text The Nine Ways of Prayer of Saint Dominic.

The Church has always affirmed the goodness of the material world, especially the human body, against those who claimed that material things were created by an evil god. This point came to be of particular significance in the controversies surrounding the Church’s understanding of the person of Christ. Against those who argued that Our Lord’s body, as a material thing, was not worthy of our adoration, the Church in her wisdom made clear that Christ is one person, although he has two natures, divine and human. There is only one Christ not two and so his human body is an inalienable part of the person of Jesus Christ. It is therefore right and proper that we should adore Christ in his whole person, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Let us give thanks that in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar we are given the opportunity to do so, and encourage others to practice the virtue of adoration by worshipping Christ present in the Holy Eucharist.

The Life of Virtue - Prayer

In 1872 the anthropologist Sir Francis Galton did a thorough statistical survey of the health of the Royal Family and compared it with the population at large – he found that there was no statistically significant difference between the two populations despite the daily prayers of the Anglican church for the health of the monarch. Therefore he concluded that prayer has no efficacy whatsoever.

Galton's analysis suggests he had many misunderstandings concerning the nature of prayer. Prayer does not cause health in the same way as eating fresh fruit or doing regular exercise might. God is eternal and unchanging, so however hard we try, we cannot change His mind. Rather, it is the other way round – when we pray, it is our minds that are changed; our minds are raised towards God. This does not mean that prayer is a purely subjective experience. God as first cause, not only determines the way the world is, but also how the world has come to be the way it is. As Aquinas puts it 'Divine providence disposes not only what effects shall take place, but also from what causes and in what order these effects shall proceed.' So when we pray for something and obtain it, this is part of Divine providence. From God we receive the disposition to ask for certain things that from all eternity God has decided to give us.

Of course sometimes we pray for something which we don't end up receiving, but this doesn't mean the prayer was a waste of time. When we pray for a certain thing, our desire for it increases and therefore we ought to pray for what we ought to desire. As Christians, we are commanded to love our neighbour, so it is particularly important that we pray for the people we know so that our desire for their well-being may increase.

Prayer is also a way of honouring God. When we pray, we recognise that everything we value and love ultimately depends on God. Thus, prayer is an act of justice – rendering to God what is due to God. As God is perfect, we can't give Him anything He needs, but what we can do is manifest His goodness. Prayer is an anticipation of the goodness we hope to share for all eternity in the Beatific Vision.

The Life of Virtue - Devotion

We might hear that someone is devoted to a cause, or their children, or even to their pet animal. What this seems to mean is a readiness to do everything one possibly can for the sake of the other. There is a sense, then, of total dedication to a given end which even amounts to a kind of religious fervour. In fact, this is very close to what St Thomas Aquinas means when he speaks of the virtue of devotion.

The word comes from the Latin devovere, which means 'to vow'. As a vow is an act of religion, so St Thomas says that one who is devoted is one who "surrenders himself readily to the service of God" who is our final end and our greatest good. Hence, devotion is essentially an act of religion, and it is an act because it is something that we deliberately choose to do. In St Thomas' language, it is "an act of the will". Hence devotion, properly speaking, is a virtue ultimately directed towards God, and other attitudes which are not so directed are called 'devotion' only by analogy.

Nevertheless, we can see from our non-religious use of the word that devotion is fuelled by love. A mother is devoted to her family, an activist to his cause, and a child to her pet rabbit because they love that other. Moreover love itself is confirmed by the act of devotion. So, St Thomas says, "charity both causes devotion (inasmuch as love makes one ready to serve one's friend) and feeds on devotion. Even so all friendship is safeguarded and increased by the practice and consideration of friendly deeds".

Therefore, devotional acts are an expression of one's love for God, and these acts in turn confirm and strengthen that love. It is thus that we speak of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, or the Virgin of Guadalupe, or even to the pope. As St Thomas explains, "devotion to God's holy ones, dead or living, does not terminate in them, but passes on to God, in so far as we honour God in His servants".

However, such love which gives rise to devotion, requires us to think first about God and recognise his goodness. So, St Thomas says we need to contemplate the Scriptures and meditate on God's wonderful deeds, for "this consideration wakens love". In recent years there has been a decline in devotion and fervour in parts of the Church. This is not surprising as faith in God fades and people no longer think of Him or love Him enough to be moved to acts of devotion. No wonder too that people's 'devotion' is increasingly diverted from God and the spiritual joy that is the true effect of devotion to other more worldly but transient joys.

How then are we to cultivate the virtue of devotion? Firstly by contemplating God's goodness and love, through reading the Scriptures and encountering Christ, the living Word of God. Then, as we grow in love for him so we shall express that love in acts of devotion that result in real joy. As St John says: "He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins" (1 John 4:8-10).

The Year of the Priest - New Book

As one of the first contributions to the celebration of the year for priests, Canon Daniel Cronin has edited a book of reflections entitled Priesthood: A life open to Christ (St Pauls, 2009). Among the seventy-eight contributors are two popes, a college of cardinals, a bench of bishops, and many priests from different parts of the world. There are contributions from Africa and Australia as well as Europe, from chaplains and academics as well as from parish priests and monks. There is even a choir of Dominicans made up of Bishop Malcolm McMahon, fr Timothy Radcliffe, fr Allan White and fr John Farrell of the English province, fr Paul Murray and fr Vivian Boland of the Irish province, and Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, Archbishop of Vienna. Canon Cronin says he wanted the book 'to touch the heart of its readers by real, lived experiences' and is happy that the contributors 'have written from a depth of insight and with a diversity of content which reflect the varied nature of their work and ministry within the priesthood'. It offers much spiritual, theological and pastoral nourishment for all who care about the Catholic priesthood.

The Life of Virtue - Religion

Religion is not a theological virtue. This is the first and perhaps the most important thing to be said about it. Faith, hope and charity are theological virtues: they put us in direct contact with God and, as supernatural gifts, enable us to live the divine life in ways that befit creatures who have become partakers of the divine nature. 'No longer do I call you servants', says Jesus in John 15:15, 'I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I have learned from my Father'.

Religion is a virtue of the creature and the servant of God, things we remain, of course, as adopted sons and daughters in the family of God. Even as God's children, sharing the life of Christ and so raised to a certain 'equality' with God, we continue to owe God a debt of worship. We must still acknowledge our position as creatures before God and be ready to submit to God in all things (as indeed was Christ). Faith increases our awareness of this duty of justice - to render to God what is due to Him as God - and love urges us to fulfill it even more perfectly. St Augustine says that the acts of faith, hope and charity themselves are a very special part of the debt of homage or worship we must continue to pay to God as His creatures.

Of course we can never repay God for what God has given us so religion is not justice in the strict meaning of the term. It moves us to gratitude and respect towards One to whom we are forever indebted. Its characteristic attitudes are respect and reverence, thanksgiving and devotion, combined with the desire to serve God in whatever ways He asks us to serve Him.

Hans Urs von Balthasar writes that the first presupposition of ancient paganism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity was 'that man, though he is not God, can nevertheless be defined by his immediate relation to God or the Absolute. The man of Plato, as well as that of the Greek dramatists and the Stoics, is a being who can and must be aware of the Divine. Man experiences himself as a frontier between this world and the world above: as one who cannot feel completely at home in the Cosmos and is haunted by a longing to return to the Absolute' (The God Question and Modern Man, pp.64-65). The virtue of religion is practised by all who are not numb to this awareness of the Divine, who cultivate this experience of the frontier, and who nurture this longing for the Absolute. Sparks of the Word are found in all cultures and support acts of prayer and sacrifice in all religions. But these sparks are only recognised as such by those who have come to see in Christ 'the light of the world' and 'the plan for the fulness of time'.

The Life of Virtue - Restitution

The idea of restitution is one that, in a Christian context, brings to mind the idea of restoration. This can mean restoring to someone that which has been taken away from them, or the performing of some act to make up for something previously done. Bound to this also is the idea of repentance and penance.

The one who makes restitution is trying to put right something they have done wrong, in word or deed, against their neighbour or against God. This can be explained in a practical way, such as restoring to a person something that has taken away from them, something that has been stolen. However if their dignity has been taken away how is this to be restored? I think their dignity can be restored by the recognition of their dignity and their being treated accordingly. This type of public restitution is not as obvious as, say, restoring property of some sort, but it is still restitution

How can we make restitution towards God? For how can we take anything away from him, that he would need it to be restored? In this we restore ourselves to God, by asking his forgiveness, and putting right what we have done wrong. This restores us, since by sin we also damage ourselves, rejecting God's love and his grace. So by restitution of offences against God, we acknowledge God to be God, the source of our life and the source of our dignity as human beings.

The idea of restitution for sin is one that is well grounded in biblical tradition. In Luke 19 we find the story of the tax collector Zacchaeus who had dishonestly acquired a lot of money. After his encounter with Jesus his change of heart is illustrated by his desire to restore what he had taken dishonestly. Here his repentance was proven to be real and genuine, as it was made manifest by the actions he wanted to undertake. The desire to make restitution for sins one has committed is a true recognition of the damage caused by sin, towards God, others and ourselves.

Restitution is the restoring of justice, which has been violated through sin, and it is necessary for our salvation to make restitution when we cause injustice through sin. To quote St Thomas on this point, “restitution is an act of commutative justice, and this demands a certain equality. Wherefore restitution denotes the return of the thing unjustly taken; since it is by giving it back that equality is re-established. If, however, it be taken away justly, there will be equality, and so there will be no need for restitution, for justice consists in equality. Since therefore the safeguarding of justice is necessary for salvation, it follows that it is necessary for salvation to restore what has been taken unjustly” (Summa theologiae II.II, 62, 2).

The Life of Virtue - Judgement

Judgement, iudicium, is the virtue of judging in accordance with what is just. However, as is well known, Jesus tells us not to judge (Matthew 7:1), Paul says bluntly 'who are you to give a verdict on your neighbour' (Romans 14:4), and elsewhere the New Testament repeats the point: who is sufficiently free from sin to have the integrity to judge justly (1 John 1:8; Romans 2:1)? In the case of capital punishment, we can, I believe, give the answer 'nobody' to this last question. No individual and no group of individuals is so good that they can be absolutely sure of their motivation in making such a judgement which is one good reason why it is wiser not to practise capital punishment (except in the extreme case of having no other way to prevent somebody from killing other people).

Judgement is only acceptable then to the extent that it is an act of the virtue of justice. This requires three things according to Aquinas, that it originates in an inclination toward justice, that it is done by an appropriate authority, and that it is according to that 'right reason' which governs the virtue of prudence. If it is against the inclination to justice, judgement is perverse and unjust. If it is done by someone without proper authority then it is a judgement that has been usurped. If it is unreasonable, because for example the matter remains uncertain or confused, then it is not perfect judgement but is a suspicious or a fearful judgement. Where one's suspicion about somebody is informed by prejudice and remains doubtful then it is wiser not to proceed to judgement but to give the person 'the benefit of the doubt'.

It is right that judgement should be according to the texts by which laws are enacted or in which they are contained. The natural law is not enacted by any written text but is established by creation itself. Nevertheless its requirements may be contained in a written text. (Murder is wrong not just because the law of the land says so but because the natural law says so.) In the case of positive laws, those made by governments and other public bodies, judgement should be according to the text by which such laws are enacted. (Driving on the left side of the road is wrong if you are in France. It is not against the natural law to drive on the left but it is against the laws of France and you will find this written somewhere in the French penal code.) If judgement is not according to texts then it will deviate from what is naturally or positively just.

Judgement is then a matter of interpreting how written laws are to be applied in particular situations. The same authority must stand behind the interpretation of a law as stands behind its enactment in the first place. So judgement can only be undertaken by a public authority who has responsibility for the common good of a community and to whom that community is subject. Just as it would be unjust for someone to oblige a person to observe a law which has not actually been enacted by public authority, so it would be unjust for someone to pass judgement where in doing so he is not sustained by public authority.

This last point is of crucial importance for capital punishment as without it any lynch mob might set itself up as an arbiter of justice.

We should refrain, then, from judging other people because we are never in a position to know everything relevant to their actions and decisions. Where we have responsibility for a common good and represent the authority of a community, however, we are obliged to make judgements for the sake of that good and for the sake of that community. We should do so with mindfulness, however, aware of the difficulties inherent in establishing justice in our world.

Diaconate Ordinations, 2 July 2009

On Thursday 2 July, two Dominican Brothers, Thomas Skeats and Robert Gay, were ordained deacons by Bishop William Kenny, titular bishop of Midica and administrator of the diocese of Birmingham. Below are some photographs from the ordination.

The brothers prostrate during the Litany of the Saints

Bros Robert and Thomas vested as deacons

Assisting the Bishop during the Ordination Mass

During the summer months Brother Robert will work in parishes in Leicester and Wales, while Brother Thomas will minister at St Dominic's Parish, London. In October they will return to Oxford and Rome to complete their studies for the priesthood. Please keep them in your prayers, that God will bless their ministry of preaching and service.

The Life of Virtue - Justice

The virtue of justice is one of the cardinal virtues, one of the aircraft carriers in the fleet of virtues mentioned in our opening post. If we look at the scriptures, we tend to see justice portrayed as a kind of uprightness or holiness. The just man is the one who is blameless before the Lord. However, within Christian ethics, there tends to be a more precisely defined meaning of the word. It is a virtue which has to do with the way that we interact with the other - whether that is the other with a small 'o', other people, or the Other, meaning God. According to Aquinas, justice is primarily concerned with giving others what is due to them (see ST IIa IIae qu. 57 art. 1). In our daily life, that means fulfilling our obligations, such as undertaking our work in such a way that we fulfil our contract. Or if, for example, I have decided to buy a car and I sign a contract agreeing to pay the dealer a sum of money each month, I am not giving him what I owe him in justice if I default on my payments. Similarly, if I enter a marriage contract and then decide to have a mistress, then I am not acting justly towards my wife, with whom I have formed a contract, promising to love only her with the love that is proper to marriage.

In a more general sense, justice involves living lives that are respectful and fair to others, acting towards them in such a way that we acknowledge their equal dignity as human beings made in the image of God. It means acting according to moral absolutes, which seek to protect the dignity of the individual. So we can see how many of the Ten Commandments concern justice, precisely because they involve keeping us in a right relationship with God and with others. So we are to love God and love others, and to recognise this as being a right way of acting. Developing this virtue will always make demands on us, and requires us to ask constantly how we stand in relation to God and to others, and if necessary, to adjust our ways of acting.

The Life of Virtue - Prudence

In common parlance, prudence is not a word that is well liked. It is used to refer to activity characterised by cautiousness, sometimes describing behaviour that is more akin to the vice of cowardice, the failure to act properly. However, when we speak of prudence as a virtue we consider something that is much more complex.

The word is derived from the Latin prudentia which has the sense of foresight or sagacity. Its chief association is with knowledge, wisdom, or insight in the sense that it provides both general and practical knowledge about how to act, allowing the person to distinguish between virtuous and vicious acts both in their nature, location and timing. Thus, an action performed in prudence will be courageous, for example, as opposed to the extremes of recklessness or cowardice.

Prudence is considered to be an intellectual virtue, and so of itself it does not take part in the performing of acts. Rather it provides knowledge for acting and as such is a cardinal virtue (one that is pivotal in the life of virtue), and itself acts as the 'queen of the virtues'. It regulates the other virtues through its yielding of practical wisdom for action as each of the virtues seeks to perform its act.

Prudence, painted by Piero del Pollaiuolo

New Series - Cardinal Virtues and their Allies

Once the academic year comes to an end the Dominican students begin their summer placements. Already one student is in Spain attending a language course and another is doing a hospital placement in London. Two students are attending a course at the Dominican centre for Islamic studies in Cairo. Eventually students will be on placement also in Leicester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Brussels. They will take part in pilgrimages to Ely and Lourdes, as well as in Spode Music Week and in a Dominican study week in Dubrovnik.

Although the Godzdogz team is scattering we hope to sustain a new series of reflections during the summer months. This will be on the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, and the secondary virtues that accompany them. The tradition of four cardinal or principal virtues goes back to the ancient world but was taken up by Christian teachers - Ambrose of Milan, for example - to become a standard part of Christian moral teaching. The good human being is one who is growing in these principal virtues and their allies. (One of the allied virtues is the ability to relax well, a good 'summer virtue' to cultivate.) Grace does not replace this level of natural virtue but perfects it. The good Christian, then, is the person whose life is orientated immediately towards God and who is sustained in that orientation by the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity.

A good image for the structure of virtue as St Thomas Aquinas presents it is the naval fleet. At the centre is the aircraft carrier, the cardinal virtue itself, and sailing with it is a set of destroyers, frigates, supply ships, attack boats, support vessels, etc. So each virtue has parts and subsidiary virtues, as well as particular acts, gifts and commandments that go with it. We will offer reflections on the cardinal virtues themselves as well as on the main ancillary vessels. These virtues are the principal weapons for the 'spiritual warfare' in which we are engaged.