Following God’s Way, Part 2

(Plain Text Version)

Following God’s Way, Part 2

Once we know what God wants us to do, we need His help to do it.  God helps us by giving us a conscience to make good choices.  To help us to act on these good choices, He helps us to develop good habits.

The Conscience

The conscience is the use of faith and reason to decide if an action is good or bad. In our conscience, we make a decision based on what we know to be true.  For a good conscience, we must be properly educated.  A good conscience honors God’s will over our will.

Virtues and Vices

To live a good life, we must take charge of how we think.  Every thought tends to become a desire, every desire tends to become an action, and every action tends to become a habit.   A virtue is the habit of making good choices.  A vice is the habit of making bad choices.

Here are Some Virtues

We use the virtue of Prudence when we make a good choice and are careful in carrying it out.  We find an example of prudence in Chapter 41 of the Book of Genesis, where Joseph proposes to store the surplus grain from the years of plenty.  This way, many people could survive the years of famine.  To allow the extra grain to spoil would have been imprudent.

The virtue of Justice concerns the rights of God and neighbor.  Justice toward God requires us to worship and obey Him, because He created us.  Justice toward our fellow human beings requires us to respect their rights.  God (not the government) gives us certain rights which no one can take away. 

The virtue of Fortitude enables us to carry out a good work despite the difficulty and disapproval we expect to suffer.  It also helps us to be patient and cheerful while going through long-lasting difficulties.

The virtue of Temperance helps us to use good things in moderation and to avoid sinful things.  Temperance also motivates us to seek good things, even though they may not seem attractive.  

(To be continued)

Many thanks to:

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., Pocket Catholic Catechism, 1989, Doubleday

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., Modern Catholic Dictionary, 2001, Eternal Life

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