Virtues are good habits. They are the habitual behavior of doing as God wills us to do. Virtue is the disposition, tendency, and habit of living the Truth, and regularly following the Truth of God as a habit that we consistently followed in life. When we develop virtue, we desire to do good and are repulsed by evil, but when we develop vices, we find evil easy and desirable and find doing good hard.
Virtues can be developed and must be practiced. With grace, virtues can be perfected. Our tendency to sin gets in the way of developing virtue. Virtues do not just happen. They take work. Certainly, some virtues come easier than others. We are all different in this. We should practice all the virtues.
Virtuous actions are individual acts consistent with the habits of the virtues. For an act to be virtuous, the act and the implications of the act must be understood and must be done by choice with the motive to do good. Actions that are not done willfully cannot be virtuous since they are not an act of the will.
Our pursuit of virtue is a pursuit of perfection. Following God, consistently and with enthusiasm, is exemplified through a virtuous life. We must adopt habits consistent with the Truth until we consistently act as God desires us to act. Developing these habits is the path to peace, joy and eternal life.
Seeking Virtue
Path to Virtue
The saints offer specific instructions for how to grow in virtue. Many provided step-by-step guides that can help us to practice the good habits we desire to perfect.
Resources for Virtue
The Church offers a wide variety of resources to study virtue. Ultimately, we need to put the theory into practice, but understanding the virtues can help us grow.
Theological Virtues
Faith: Faith is a response to God’s Truth, accepting this Truth, and conforming our lives to the Truth. Faith includes a total surrender of self to God. We express our faith in everything we do. Faith is not merely words professing belief, but everything we do. If we truly believe in all that God has revealed to us, do we act with integrity to that belief? Faith is challenging because it requires us to live as Jesus taught and lived.
Hope: Hope is the desire for union with God and eternal life in heaven. It is total trust in God. Hope is not wishing for something. Instead, it is trusting with certainty in God. Hope requires that we live our trust in God. Do we trust that God will provide for us, and do we trust in the promise of eternal life? If we do, then we must not worry, and we must allow God to lead us.
Love: Love is willing the good of others. It is seeing what is best for them and doing it. Love is not a feeling. We can love our enemy, because we may not feel good feelings toward them, but we can help and aid them. That is love. Love requires us to act. Jesus said that whatever we do for the least, we do for Him. Love is doing what is good for another. We are expected to serve those in need, regardless of our desires. We are called to work for the good of everyone, friend and enemy alike.