Virtue of the Week: Fortitude

Fortitude: the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions.  (CCC 1808)

We seem to have made quite a jump this week! Two weeks ago, we learned about temperance, and we learned that this virtue requires us to take an inward look and examine our own lives so that we may mortify those attachments or sins that prevent us from giving ourselves totally to God and to others. I encourage you, then, not to fall into the thinking that temperance is easy because it only requires us to worry only about ourselves. We practice temperance, ultimately, not primarily for ourselves, but for the other.

How, then, do we make the connection between temperance and fortitude? If the possession of every virtue is necessary for the practice of another, I think we can safely say that we need temperance to practice fortitude. The practice of temperance should ultimately endow us with a clear vision in which we see all things the way God sees them, even ourselves. When we see things in the light of truth and goodness, then, we should desire nothing else but to remain firm in the greatest difficulties and temptations. We should desire to practice fortitude.

How can we fail in fortitude? Or maybe a better way to ask the question is what is the negative spiritual quality that reveals to us our need to practice fortitude? I think we can fail in being spiritually lukewarm. When be become lukewarm, we indicate by our actions that we care very little for something. In our lukewarmness we are satisfied with doing the least possible. We do not dare, risk, surrender, persevere, or endeavor. This is not only because we do not care, but because we hold ourselves as the most important. We do not wish to inconvenience ourselves for God or for others because we fear rejection, injury, humiliation, or mortification.

Knowing this, we can examine the attitudes we may have towards many things in our lives. We should look at our time spent in prayer, our relationships, our study habits, even our hobbies. Are there aspects of our lives in which we do not give all we can? Are there areas in which we give more than we should because it is easy? While I do not think that the amount of time we spend in an activity is always an indicator of how much we care, I think that it can tell us at least when we care too little. If we do everything with love, then our gift will always be a total gift, and our time will never be wasted. We will not consider the cost of our effort because we will think of nothing else but the value of the other or the importance of what we do.

God bless you, ladies!
Marta

Examine Your Fasting!

Dear Ladies,

  As Megan already pointed out, temperance is a special virtue. Unlike other virtues, it primarily focuses on self-examination. In the practice of temperance, we look inward so that we can identify areas in our lives in which we rely on material goods or people instead of God. The ultimate goal of temperance, however, is not simply to mortify our earthly attachments, but to make ourselves more disposed to love and serve God. Remember that fasting itself can also become an idly if it is not done with the proper disposition or attitude.

  Megan and Jenny have already said so much on the subject, so I'm going to encourage you all to examine, in particular, your fasting practices. You should always reflect on your fasting experiences before the Lord, and you should not seek to bar him from your soul until you have worked out all your issues. That is not what temperance is about. Invite Him in to your fasting and allow Him to bless and fortify you through whatever you may choose to do.

   In examining your fasting in prayer, you should consider asking yourselves these questions:
- What has been my attitude toward fasting before and during the fast?
- Have I been idly talking about my fasting practices with others?
- Have I allowed my fasting practices to negatively impact in any way my relationship with God and with others?
- Why did I choose to fast in the particular way I have? Is it effective? Am I being too harsh or too lax with myself?
- Am I making my fast a constant prayer? Or am I simply treating it as a necessary but mindless ritual? Is it changing me?
- Did I seek any kind of advice (ex., priest, spiritual director) before I chose my method of fasting?

I hope you are having a blessed Lent, and may Christ bless you and keep you as you persevere! Remember that it's all for Him!
-Marta

Temperance and Mother Teresa

 
  “You guys…..I just want to be like Mother Teresa.  SHE’S SO COOL!!!  AHHHH!!!” 
My friends have heard me say this too many times.
    But this post is not about me raving about how cool Mother Teresa is (that could go on forever, believe me).  This is about temperance.
    There are multiple areas in our life to which we can apply temperance, (check out Megan’s post for more details!) but I am going to focus on time management and the importance of prayer with work, and how we can apply it to our lives here.  One story from Mother Teresa’s life I want to share with you is how temperance changed her mission and so changed the world.
    Mother Teresa was focused her whole life, this was not a characteristic she picked up in old age.  Mind you, this stubbornness was not a disobedience, it was more like when she knew something needed to be done, she got it done and few things could/would stand in her way.  When she was in her twenties and thirties- a young nun of the Sisters of Loreto- Mother Teresa worked at a furious pace.  She was teaching, visiting the sick, running schools, and attending to the poor.  Not surprisingly, she ran herself down and her health suffered.  Her superiors ordered her to spend at least three hours of every day resting in bed, but that did not seem to work.  Mother Teresa was then ordered to go on an extended retreat in Darjeeling.  It was on this quiet journey that she heard Jesus’ call for her to found the Missionaries of Charity.  Through silent prayer and reflection, she was able to better discern this call, and her heart was set aflame.  The world would never be the same again.
    Just think if temperance, balancing work with prayer, had not been a part of  Mother Teresa’s life, she might not have heard His call to be a Missionary of Charity.  In all the crazy busyness of her life, while she was doing things that were certainly good, she knew to take time away from the work she so desired to complete in order to pray.  As the Missionaries of Charity began to develop, Mother Teresa made sure that the structure of the day was set up to include work, rest, and most importantly, prayer.  The schedule stressed the importance of budgeting time so that they may take care of themselves to take care of others, both physically and spiritually. 
    It is so tempting (especially on this campus) to over-commit ourselves to different ministries or activities.  We tend to justify it by telling ourselves, “Yeah I’m really busy, BUT I’m doing  God’s work so it’s fine, the saints did all this stuff and I have to keep up”.  Well, while those ministries are certainly great, our primary vocation at this moment is to be a student.  Remember, Mother Teresa had given up her WHOLE life for this mission, so really it was not too crazy for her to be doing all the things she was doing with the Missionaries of Charity.  That was just her calling.  Just as God called Mother Teresa to be a Missionary of Charity, He is calling us to be a student, the best we can be.  Sometimes this means not being an active part of a ministry or giving up going on a bunch of mission trips.  It means not measuring our holiness by the busyness of our schedules or having a silent competition to see who can run the most ministries.  By being the student you are currently being called to be, it doesn’t mean you do not love God, and it doesn’t mean you are lazy.      
    During this special time when we are students, preparing to go out into the world to turn it upside down with our wisdom, it is important to take time for prayer and discernment and just BE with God.  There is certainly a time to glorify Him with your service, but you also glorify Him by standing still and listening to Him and basking in His smile.  Through this time with Him, He may call you to be a Missionary of Charity, or He may call you to a different vocation.  If you don’t take time to listen to Him, you won’t know how He wants you to live out the time you have left.  
    So instead of thinking, “I want to be like Mother Teresa- I want to serve EVERYBODY IN PERSON and save the world!!!  BREAK OUT THE COFFEE!!!”, I encourage you to think, “I want to be like Mother Teresa- I’m going to go study for my Philosophy test and then I’m going to take a short nap because I didn’t get much sleep last night, and then I’m going to meditate in the chapel for a half hour.  BRING ON THE DAY!!!”

I will leave you with this inscription on a sign on the wall of a children’s home of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta that reads:
Take time to think
Take time to pray
Take time to laugh

It is the source of power
It is the greatest power on Earth
It is the music of the soul

Take time to play
Take time to love and be loved
Take time to give

It is the secret to perpetual youth
It is God’s given privilege
It is too short a day to be selfish

Take time to read
Take time to be friendly
Take time to work

It is the fountain of wisdom
It is the road to happiness
It is the price of success

Take time to do charity
It is the key to heaven.  

Your sister in Christ,
Jenny

Temperance a “Special Virtue”

Temperance: the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods; it ensures the will's mastery and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. (CCC 1809)

St. Thomas Aquinas called Temperance a “special virtue,” because the practice of moderation is necessary for properly living out all of the other virtues. Temperance is necessary for keeping our concupiscence in check and “controls the yearning for pleasures and delights which most powerfully attract the human heart.”(Newadvent.com) We are naturally attracted to pleasures and delights, these are different for everyone, but with Temperance we can act with reason over our passions.

The Lenten practice that comes to mind when I think about Temperance is fasting. Fasting is a great way to practice Temperance, but only if we keep in mind that Temperance involves moderation. It is easy to go overboard when fasting; we can get over-zealous and fast to an extent that is not prudent and moderate, or we can fast for the wrong reasons.

Fasting should always be done in conjunction with prayer. I recently heard the connection between prayer and fasting explained in this way: fasting detaches us from worldly things and prayer attaches us to God. If I am fasting from sugar in my tea (putting a ton of sugar in my tea is one of my weaknesses) it is not enough to drink my tea plain, I should also offer a prayer with every cup of un-sugared tea that I become less attached to worldly goods and more attached to God. Also, if I decide to fast primarily because I want to loose weight, my intentions are not right, and the fast won’t really be fruitful. The intention of fasting should always be to learn moderation and self-denial, in order that we may grow closer to God.

Something else I recently learned about Fasting is also really important to note. I heard it recommended by a priest that those who have struggled with eating disorders should try fasting from things other than food. The suffering that is connected with an eating disorder is a great sacrifice in itself and fasting from things other than food can be a way of practicing Temperance while continuing the healing process and not presenting a situation in which a relapse can occur. A priest or spiritual director can be a great help for us in choosing Lenten practices that stay within the bounds of moderation.

Here are some other practical ideas for practicing Temperance this week:

-Don't waste time. Give yourself a time limit for being online or watching T.V.
-Avoid "I know I'm going to regret this later" kinds of situations (food, alcohol, hanging out instead of studying, etc.)
-Try making a schedule this week: make sure everything is given the appropriate amount of time (prayer, study, sleep, meals, exercise, relaxation etc.)
-Avoid the temptation to be a perfectionist. Pray that you do only what God wants you to do, no more and no less.

Living Out Prudence, Every Day

Hi Ladies!
Week 1 of the Lenten Virtue Challenge is drawing to a close. Did you try growing in Prudence this week? What practical exercises did you use? How did it go? Of course, virtues are habits, and habits take a while to build, but we would love to hear about your initial experience with Prudence! You can comment on this blog post, or on our facebook page.

Also, I wanted to share 3 practical steps for acting prudently that I found on this website.
The three stages of a prudent act are:
1."to take counsel carefully with oneself and from others"
2. to judge correctly on the basis of the evidence at hand"
3. "to direct the rest of one's activity according to the norms determined after a prudent judgment has been made."

I love how apparent it is from these steps that the use of reason is connected with acting virtuously.

So, let's hear about Week 1....

-Megan

Prudence Quiz? What?

Back in the day (also known as B.C. – “Before Convent”), in my middle-school years, I think I took just about every magazine quiz that was ever put in front of me: personality quizzes, guy quizzes, fun quizzes, celebrity quizzes, relationship quizzes, fashion quizzes…you name it!  I thought they were fun…ridiculous, but fun. 

So today I present before you a Lenten Prudence Quiz!  Read the questions, keep track of your answers, tally the score…you know how these things work.  Let’s find out just how prudent we are!  Just don’t forget to be honest with yourself – don’t choose the answers you “should” choose, pick the answers that most accurately describe your thoughts or actions in the given situation.

Prudence Quiz

1.       You hear about a great ministry that your friends are involved in and it sounds right up your alley.  You are very excited about it and want to get involved with it.  However, you are committed to a ministry already, you are active in household, you are taking a full load of classes and you are trying to get a regular prayer schedule down.  Do you think:

a.       The Lord will provide for me!  I am doing His work and aren’t we supposed to put others before ourselves anyway?

b.      I have a lot on my plate already.  If I do too much I will spread myself too thin and not be able to give of myself or be present very well at the things I have already committed to doing.  I will hold off for right now.

c.       Like St. Therese said, “I choose all!”  I can just pull long nights and early mornings.  I can handle it.  

2.       You are crazy busy with homework (it’s one of those weeks) and you have a meeting in 15 minutes.  Do you:

a.       Stop now and get ready to leave.

b.      Try to do one more thing before you have to leave.

c.       Finish what you are doing because “it will only take a second” and end up walking in late to the meeting.

3.       You and your beloved are finally getting to spend an evening together after a crazy week of concentrating on class work.  You decide you want to hang out just the two of you.  Do you:

a.       Reserve a common room, turn on lamps instead of the overhead lights, sit close and “talk.”

b.      Read Theology of the Body together at his house with no one else around.

c.       Go to the nearest coffee shop and talk at a quiet little table in the corner.

4.       You just had a confrontation with someone and you are still upset about it.  Your face is red and your emotions are seething.  Do you:

a.       Immediately go to the Chapel, vent to the Lord and pray for the grace to calmly approach this person again and talk things out once your emotions settle.

b.      Run to the nearest household sister or friend, asking for her prayers for this situation and end up telling her the whole thing, getting all riled up again (AKA: disguising and justifying the need to vent as a “prayer request”).   

c.       Shove the confrontation down and repress all the emotions that go a long with it, bottling them up and then biting the head off of the next person who does the slightest thing wrong.   

5.       As a Lenten sacrifice you decide to fast on bread and water on Wednesdays.  However this Wednesday you have clinical all day and the following day you have a test.  Do you think:

a.       Our Lady of Medjugorje tells us the best fast is on bread and water!  It has to be the most powerful, therefore I will do it – there are so many souls that need prayer and sacrifice!  She will help me!

b.      If Jesus can die on the cross for me, I can die to myself and stick this one out.  Plus I can just wait until midnight, eat and then pull an all-nighter studying. 

c.       I will do a different type of fast this Wednesday. I will give up my coffee (which will pinch just as much as bread and water) so that I can give my best to the people in the hospital.  And my brain will function better if I eat healthy so I can focus on studying. 

6.       You are in the caf sitting with a group of your friends.  Suzy starts to gossip about John and Melanie.  Do you:

a.       Sit quietly; not participating in the conversation and inwardly wishing and praying Suzy would stop.

b.      Interject with positive attributes that John and Melanie have, hinting politely that you do not approve of the conversation.

c.       Getting up and leave the table.

7.       Midterms are nearing the bend.  You know you have a heavy load and papers to boot.  But the thought of it overwhelms you to the point of paralysis.  In that moment do you:

a.       Get on Facebook or call a friend; something to take your mind off the stress

b.      Suddenly remember you are weeks behind in your sitcom and tell yourself that you will take the rest of the evening off and start fresh tomorrow, promising yourself you’ll work really hard all day.

c.       Divide and conquer.  Look at all you have to do, take a part of it and get to work on it.  You know that if you do a little over a period of time it will cut down on the stress in the long run.

Now Tally Your Score:

1.       A=2 points, B=3 points, C=1 point

2.       A=3 points, B=2 points, C=1 point

3.       A=1 point, B=1 point, C=3 points

4.       A=3 points, B=2 points, C=1 point

5.       A=2 points, B=1 point, C=3 points

6.       A=1 point, B=3 points, C=2 points

7.       A=1 point, B=1 point, C=3 points

Here’s Your Scoring:

17-21 points:  You’ve got stamina girl! You’ve built up your prudence virtue muscles!  If this was kickboxing you’d be an instructor!

12-16 points:  You’re taking a stroll around the park.  Pick up the pace and put a little energy and drive into your prudent practices!  You can do it!

7-11 points:  You are a prudence couch potato!  Time to get up and start exercising those virtue muscles! Try taking your Catechism of the Catholic Church to Adoration and praying over passages 1788, 1805-06, 1835, and 1906. Call on the Holy Spirit to help you internalize what you read and then begin to live it!   

                                                                                                           
                                                                                                            -Sr. Elizabeth, TOR

Lenten Virtue Challenge: Prudence

This first week we are going to be focusing on the virtue of Prudence.

Prudence is defined by the Catechism as “the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it” (1806). In other words, virtue utilizes reason to discern what is good and how to go about that good. Prudence takes in mind the fact that the ends do not justify the means, and finds ways to achieve a good that in themselves are also good. Love is the driving force behind prudence (and all the virtues) because by growing in prudence we learn to love the good so much we choose it above all else; this requires grace. For these reasons the Catechism further says that prudence is the “charioteer” of other virtues because it sets out the rules and the structure for other virtues. 

As women, we can practice the virtue of prudence by making decisions based on reason and truth: the truth about God, ourselves, and others. This means keeping our emotions rightly ordered and not making decisions based on whims, mere desire, or falsities. Seeking the truth in decisions, even the small ones, is central to prudence, because without truth, how then, can we even know what is good? 

The Catechism also says prudence “is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation” (1806). Not taking action when it is necessary is not prudence at all! For example, if I am struggling with a particular sin, then I can prudently make the decision to avoid places of temptation and to frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation because by prudence I know what the sin is, how to avoid it, and how to choose the good. Another example of growing in prudence is by time management. This means putting the most important things first. This includes taking care of ourselves and choosing to be healthy, especially as midterms are approaching, so that we can fully live out our call as students. Remember, everything we do is out of love for Christ, who desires each of us to live a virtuous life!

-Holly