During his regular general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis continued his lecture on the theme of “vices and virtues.” Starting this week, the Pope shifts the focus of reflection from “vices” to “virtues.” In order to obtain “virtue”, the Pope encourages believers to pray for the help of God’s Holy Spirit and cultivate virtue with good intentions.
(Vatican News Network) Pope Francis hosted a public audience on March 13. During the catechesis on “Vice Habits and Virtues”, the focus of reflection shifted from “vices” to “virtues.” The Pope pointed out that because “man is born for good,” he is able to practice and realize virtue. A virtuous person is one who has “the ability to be strong, brave, disciplined and self-denying”, so the practice of virtue is not only “tough, but even painful”. The virtuous person is “true to his calling” and “fulfills” himself. Since the Pope still had cold symptoms, the text of the catechesis was handed over to Monsignor Pierluigi Giroli of the Vatican Council of State to read it on his behalf.
The Pope pointed out that saints are virtuous, they are “those who fully live themselves and fulfill each person’s respective vocation.” Saints, the pope explained, should not be considered “a special case of humanity: a kind of person who lives outside of us ordinary people, in a narrow circle of eminent persons.” If today “justice, respect, charity, generosity” and “hope” are “rare and special”, then it is necessary for us to practice them and remember that God created us in his image.
The Pope then pointed out that we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Virtue is a habitual and determined tendency to do good.” (No. 1803) He explained that virtue is not something that can be “improvised” and that it should not be Classified as good deeds, even evildoers have the ability to do good in their “moments of clear mind.” Virtue, on the contrary, “is the goodness that a person develops as he matures and eventually becomes an intrinsic quality of that person.” The Pope said: “Virtue is a habit of freedom. If every one of our actions is free, every time we have to choose between good and evil, then virtue will direct us towards the right choice. habits.”
But how do we acquire virtue? The Pope pointed out that Christians can first be helped by the grace of God, because the power of the Holy Spirit works in the baptized person. “To guide us to live virtuous lives, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts.” Thus, even those who find certain shortcomings “insurmountable” “experience that God has accomplished” the good works they hoped for, since “grace always precedes our moral efforts.”
The growth and cultivation of virtue require two elements. First, you need to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit, that is, ask God for the gift of wisdom. Wisdom allows one to “learn from mistakes and guide life correctly.” Finally, the Pope said, “We need good will: the ability to choose what is good, to shape ourselves with the discipline of self-denial, and to stay away from extremes.”
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