Pastor's Page: September 25, 2011
Decision-Making and a Life Of Virtue
"What does the Lord require of you? Only this - to act justly, to love
tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6. 8)
Although we refer to ourselves as human beings, we might more accurately understand ourselves as human becomings. We are on a journey of self realization. That self realization comes about through the decisions we make each day. These decisions range from the very simple to the highly complex. Simple decisions are made almost reflexively. We decide to rise from our beds when the alarm goes off. We have chosen to begin the day, rather than to sleep it away. We make the decision to offer a morning prayer; to get some exercise at the health club or on a treadmill in our home. We choose to greet the children with a smile, a hug and a kiss; to prepare their lunch and assist their preparations for a day away at school. We decide to hustle to the train station and bring a laptop to prepare for the business work that awaits us. We decide to offer a friendly smile, a hello and a kind word of greeting to our fellow passengers and our coworkers at the office.
We think we are simply living life; but in actuality we are operating from an inner disposition where values and principles are deeply grounded in our minds and hearts. Followers of Jesus, from the very beginning of their life as a community after his resurrection, thought through how they would respond to God's gift of love in Jesus, the human face of God. They had received his Spirit, calling them forth to leave fears behind and to live virtuous lives, becoming truly themselves through the action of God. They called themselves people of "the way.” They built their lives on the revealed word of God in the Scriptures, and the teachings and actions of the One they had come to know as Son of God. Jesus the Christ was their model for full humanity. The decision to love God and neighbor meant that care for the poor, the marginal and the voiceless became their call of justice for the oppressed. Forgiving love for all, so clearly evidenced in his life, was the ideal for their community.
Christian Morality has been defined as the living out of a fully human life. Hopefully we are acting out of a network of human values that we have internalized. We have acquired a system of responsibilities and duties and obligations that are meaningful to us. What does it mean to be like Jesus? To be a good person? A good parent? A loving spouse? A caring friend and confidant?
Our decisions are never made in a vacuum. They are always made in a community. People will be affected by what we do and what we fail to do. We will bring light and life to ourselves and others, or we will bring death and darkness. When we act uprightly, affirming the goodness of life and the people we encounter, we bring light and virtue. When we act selfishly and self-destructively, we bring darkness and sin. We try to act virtuously, avoiding what is evil and doing what is good.
David Brooks, writing an Op Ed piece for the New York Times, was disheartened by the inability of young people, 18 to 23-year-olds to think and talk about moral issues. Recent research had shown that they lack the capacity to say anything sensible, because they do not have either the categories or the vocabulary necessary. Most of them, interviewed in a recent study on young people's moral lives, said "It's personal," "It's up to the individual. Who am I to say?" They had no opinion on the moral value or disvalue of cheating on a test or driving drunk or being unfaithful in a marriage. "I couldn't speak on behalf of anyone else as to what's right and wrong."
Pope Benedict has spoken often about the moral relativism of Western Europe. The standards of right and wrong have been subsumed by extreme individualism and autonomy. What was disheartening to David Brooks, and to our Holy Father and me, is that these young people seem to lack an education in moral values. Their schools, churches, and families seem to have failed them. Brooks expressed the hope that as these young people married and had children of their own and entered the world of work, they would begin to form habits of responsibility and right judgment, and a wider worldview . Will they? What will be their impact on American society?
Interested in hearing more? Call the rectory and sign up for my course "Christian Morality" beginning Saturday, October 1 from 9 AM to 11 AM in our church.
Peace and love,
Father Bruce
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