Timestamps:
0:00 – 0:25 = Intro
0:34 – 2:18 = Topic Introduction and Context
2:19 – 5:07 = How around today Fortitude
5:08 – 13:57 = Charity and Virtue
13:58 – 19:17 = Vanity Manage Himself
19:18 – 20:59 = In Semester my page
21:00 – 35:40 = Patience feel glossy
35:41 – 35:48 = Closing
Celebrating 7 years of Virtue Ministry this week!
Have a conversation around fortitude – was essential for when Virtue Ministry began.
There was a lot of anxiousness about starting this.
Stina not wanting to start the ministry – hoping God would find someone else. But she was picked.
Letting go of the initial fear, and letting go and role with God’s will.
With sometime – the challenge became to listen to God vs listening to her own voice – Whose glory is this ministry REALLY for?
God’s Glory vs Vainglory:
Whose glory do we strive for? We say ‘All for the Glory of God’ but do we really live that?
This is when we need and emphasise the importance of prudence as the ‘charioteer of the virtues’.
- What do I spend my energies? What difficult good am I trying to pursue? Our will naturally inclines to the good, so that no one chooses an evil purely for the sake of evil, rather it is chosen for some perceived good.
- Am I striving for a good as related to God or am I striving for a perceived good? Eg the selfish person acts selfishly because they perceive some good will come to them from the selfish action. If I don’t have prudence to determine the true good, then I cannot exercise the virtue of fortitude.
It isn’t always in the prior phase. It can come during or after:
How distracted are we by what other’s think of us? How much do we replay an interaction with someone either to bolster us up OR in worry of what impression we made?
There is no point in ruminating on things that have passed, and sitting with worries and anxieties. That’s allowing Satan to come in to destroy and distract you from what you are needing to do.
Vanity
It’s vain to seek praise for something that is not truly praiseworthy eg. Drinking culture, immodest dress culture, foul language in the work place, gossiping
It’s sinful to seek glory from someone whose judgement is not sound – Our standard is the cross and obedience to Christ on the cross and nothing less.
Indiscriminate vanity – social media – care instead about the praise of those who are striving for virtue and model that in your life.
It’s ok to seek praise from those we respect. But true glory only comes from God.
Constancy
Essential for perseverance – avoiding the temptation to waiver, and pour efforts elsewhere.
- Eg. If I’m meant to be working on a talk, but I go and work on emails, and editing because they’re easier than the task of writing a talk with writers block, then I’m not practicing constancy, I’m taking a route that feels easier when in reality I’ve gone off course. Editing and emails are still good things, and they still need to be done, but they are the lesser good when I have a talk to prepare, therefore it’s not the path that I’m mean to be walking today.
We don’t want to sit in an uncomfortable situation.
It’s the virtue that helps us not be distracted
Don’t leave the thing because it’s hard. Just do it.
This is where Perseverance and Patience come together.
If I have something challenging to do, I need perseverance to do it. If it’s a task I’ve done before but feels hard right now I need the subvirtue of Perseverance – constancy to do it. If I’m saddened by this challenge – I need Patience.-
God always pulls through.
And things don’t need to be the best of your life’s work – a draft can be worked on. Just start.
Perseverance – continuing on, enduring
Persisting when the good things we are trying to pursue are difficult in themselves
Dr Edward Sri says ‘the person who complains or gives up in the face of difficulties lack maturity in character’ – umm ouch! But point taken. We’re called to have childlike dependence, trust and faith in God, but we’re also called to mature relationship with God – a purgative, illuminative and unitive relationship with Him. We mature from being a child, to striving for excellence to becoming united to God as he designed and desires for us. But this takes maturity of character and relationship, whilst maintaining a childlike dependence on God.
It requires us to persevere in something to be determined knowing we are choosing the glory of God. Embracing the difficulty, the cross and purification.
Focussing only on ourselves shows an immature character, and shows we have lost focussed on Christ. Forgetting the moments of sanctification.
Summisation:
Fortitude – God’s glory, consistency, perseverance.
These aspects summarise the virtue of fortitude. The virtue by which we are able to pursue our true good, even when it’s hard. It’s hard to be focused on the glory of God, when our own self-glory can feel so good, it’s hard to be constant when we want to experience variation, it’s hard to persevere, when we want to give in. Fortitude, as a virtue AND as a gift of the Holy Spirit helps us pursue God!
Be open to every moment of difficulty, and persevering the name of Christ!
TBG
Padre: The Spiritual Teaching of the Path of Mary by Venerable Mary Potter
Stina: VM Team – new life into the team, and ministry
If you enjoy our Show Notes, you can listen to our Living Fullness Podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, directly from our website or watch our guest interviews on YouTube! Also check out our social media pages Living Fullness Podcast on Instagram , the closed Facebook group for links and discussions, and Virtue Ministry on Facebook and Instagram.