This episode is brought to you by the Crusader Rosary from The Social Catholic:
Show notes:
Eight Points of Virtue from the Knights Hospitaller
The eight obligations or aspirations of the Knights of St. John
1. To live in truth2. To have faith3. To repent one’s sins4. To give proof of humility5. To love justice6. To be merciful7. To be sincere and wholehearted8. To endure persecution
The Outline of Our Episodes
* Define the virtue, including where it is nested
* Explore a vice of deficiency
* Explore a vice of excess
* My Experience
* The Secular Perspective
* Give an example saint
* Offer an act of virtue
* Invitation to share your experience
Aristoles’s Model of Growth in Virtue:
* Vicious
* Weak-Willed
* Self-Controlled
* Virtuous
Model of sin to contrition based on love from St. Bernard.
* Love of oneself for one's own sake. This is the most basic, natural love, where a person is primarily focused on their own needs and survival. Bernard viewed this as the starting point for all love, as "no one ever yet hated his own flesh" (Ephesians 5:29). However, this self-love must be curbed by the command to "love your neighbor as yourself" to prevent it from becoming selfish and excessive.
* Love of God for one's own sake. Through hardships and limitations, a person learns they cannot subsist by their own power and turns to God for help. At this stage, love for God is motivated by self-interest, seeking God's blessings and protection rather than God himself. Bernard notes that this is a wise step, as it recognizes humanity's dependence on the Creator.
* Love of God for God's own sake. the soul begins to taste God's "sweetness" through frequent prayer and meditation. This moves a person beyond loving God for personal gain to loving him for his inherent goodness. A person at this stage loves what belongs to God, which makes it easier to love one's neighbor.
* Love of oneself for God's sake. This is the highest and most difficult stage to attain in this life... In this final stage, the soul loses itself entirely in God, forgetting itself and seeking only God's will. In this state, a person loves themselves only because God loves them, and their will becomes one with God's.
Model of Virtue
* The Seven Virtues and Fifty Subvirtues of Medieval Christianity
