Unmistakable
power flows from a virtuous life, by Father Michael Shields of The Heart of
Jesus ( CatholicAnchor.org, August 2014 )
Three young,
Catholic women are on a mission trip to our parish from Franciscan
University of Steubenville ,
Ohio .
Hannah, Theresa
and Katalyn have already impressed me with what I call “soft evangelization” —
spreading the Gospel through acts of mercy, kindness and friendship, and giving
a reason for their hope in Christ, when asked.
They introduced
themselves to our parish on Pentecost Sunday.
As they spoke
in front of the church I was struck by their poise, dignity and confidence.
I just recently
gave a retreat on the fruits of the Holy Spirit to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries
of Charity in Rome .
These fruits
are commonly known as charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity.
In speaking with
the sisters from Mother Teresa’s order, I shared my deep dismay that the three
fruits most despised in our modern culture were meekness, modesty and chastity.
No one gets to
the top of a Fortune 500 company by being meek.
No one wields
influence in the fashion industry by promoting modesty, and certainly no one
would publicly admit that chastity and saving oneself for marriage was a
primary goal in developing any romantic relationship.
And yet before
me stood three young women whose inner strength and outer apparel matched.
Nothing
milk-toast about them and I thought to myself what father wouldn’t be proud of
such daughters.
But what a time
they live in — we all live in.
In ages past a
young woman had to be ashamed of being sexually “experienced.” Today she is more likely to be ashamed of sexual
inexperience.
In an older
time (when I was a child) an unmarried woman was ashamed to give public
evidence of sexual desire by living with someone.
Now she has to be
ashamed of her desire to save her most intimate self for her marriage partner.
Today vice is
celebrated and virtue ridiculed.
Yet standing
before the parish were three young women — obviously counter cultural.
Where do they
draw strength to stand against a secular culture that sees the virtuous life as
nothing more than a product of too many
hang-ups?
I suspect their
strength comes from family, church, faith and from an excellent Catholic
university that presents the faith as an attractive way to live.
It is
attractive to live humbly.
The most attractive
person on the earth showed us the kind of strength that flows from a deeply
humble life.
Jesus did not give
up greatness, power or glory by submitting to meekness.
Rather his power
and greatness are found in and through his meekness.
That is
attractive.
It is attractive also to live with modesty, to uphold
one’s personal dignity and refuse to be used by anyone.
It is
attractive to live a chaste life because sex is too good and too sacred to turn into a fleeting game or recreation.
We view our
pastimes as something sacred and the sacred gift
of sexual union as a mere game.
But how many
homilies have I heard on meekness,
modesty or chastity?
Very few, I’m
afraid.
Yet how
attractive is the presence of these three women visiting our parish.
They live out
their dignity, while loving and promoting the dignity of others.
We, too, can
navigate our modern culture by embracing the power and dignity that comes from
living the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
The writer is pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Magadan , Russia .
http://www.catholicanchor.org/editors-picks/unmistakable-power-flows-from-a-virtuous-life/
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