Since it is Lent, I thought I'd blog about the never-cheery but ever-pertenent subject of the Seven Deadly Sins. The Whitestone Journal has a lot of very good information about the Seven Deadly Sins and the virtues that oppose them.
Vice.............Virtue
(1)Pride..........Humility
Seeing ourselves as we are and not comparing ourselves to others is humility. Pride and vanity are competitive. If someone else's pride really bothers you, you have a lot of pride.
(2) Envy..........Love
"Love is patient, love is kind…" Love actively seeks the good of others for their sake. Envy resents the good others receive or even might receive. Envy is almost indistinguishable from pride at times.
(3) Wrath/Anger..........Kindness
Kindness means taking the tender approach, with patience and compassion. Anger is often our first reaction to the problems of others. Impatience with the faults of others is related to this.
(4) Sloth..........Zeal
Zeal is the energetic response of the heart to God's commands. The other sins work together to deaden the spiritual senses so we first become slow to respond to God and then drift completely into the sleep of complacency.
(5) Avarice/Greed..........Generosity
This is about more than money. Generosity means letting others get the credit or praise. It is giving without having expectations of the other person. Greed wants to get its "fair share" or a bit more.
(6)Gluttony..........Faith and Temperance
Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance. This does not pertain only to food, but to entertainment and other legitimate goods, and even the company of others.
(7)Lust..........Self control
Self control and self mastery prevent pleasure from killing the soul by suffocation. Legitimate pleasures are controlled in the same way an athlete's muscles are: for maximum efficiency without damage. Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control.
This reminds me of something I once read: If something consistently bothers you about another person, pray for that person, and for yourself, practice the opposite virtue.
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Thank you 4HC! Wonderful post. It's a good reminder for me that there is something more to it than the obvious! It will help me do my examation of conscience.
ReplyDeleteThese things are so helpful, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteDear 4HC,
ReplyDeleteI definitely like your blogging. Structured enough, personal enough and varied enough.
Keep up, please keep up !
Holy Lent !