Chesterton and the Virtue of Common Sense

Chesterton and the Virtue of Common Sense

“The only thing surprising about common sense is how uncommon it has become.” G. K.  Chesterton

G. K.  Chesterton (1874-1936) has been dubbed the apostle of common sense. An apostle is sent to preach the Gospel - in ordinary and/or extraordinary ways. Chesterton did just that using common sense arguments. ‘Critics recognized that he wrote in defense of the Christian faith but mistakenly presumed he was just doing it for show. When they finally realized that Chesterton actually believed what he wrote, they were shocked.’ [Dale Ahlquist. The Apostle of Common Sense. P. 18} 

Chesterton wrote about everything —  politics, war, sex, art, literature, science, technology, philosophy, psychology, morality, and history and even economics.  Basically, Chesterton had the unique ability to interweave paradox, wit, and common sense while writing about topics that helped the reader better understand God, themselves, society, and the world they lived in. 

Chesterton’s Christ-centered friendship transformed his life and the lives of many other individuals — then and now. He eventually became Catholic fourteen years before his death. His written works still transform lives when we take the time to read and ponder their meaning. Be warned, Chesterton wrote a lot; he published 100 books, regular weekly columns in the London newspapers, his own paper entitled G.K’s Weekly, poetry, and short stories including a popular mystery series featuring priest-detective Father Brown. He even wrote a book about St. Thomas Aquinas that is considered to be the ‘best one ever written’  according to renowned Thomistic scholar Ettienne Gilson. He published fifteen million words during his lifetime! [Catholicism: The Pivotal Players by Bishop Robert Barron] That’s a lot of words for sure, but the meaning of the words is so much more important than the number! If you want to read Chesterton, but don’t know where to start, refer to my Points to Ponder Section at the end of this article. Why read Chesterton? Ettienne Gilson tells us that Chesterton “was one of the deepest thinkers who ever existed; he was deep because he was right; and he could not help being right; but he could not either help being modest and charitable, so he left it to those who could understand him to know that he was right, and deep; to the others, he apologized for being right, and he made up for by being witty.”

What is common sense?  Why is it in short supply today? Bishop Robert Barron tells us that common sense is nothing other than an understanding and practice of natural law. But since when is a philosophy or law considered a virtue? Let’s investigate that further. 

Modern day wordologists  — the people who make up words and their definitions — suggest that common sense is the “wisdom of the common folk.” [Urban dictionary] Sounds right until you read their definition of common folk: people who are “mostly ignorant, uneducated, foolish, often poor or middle class, not the type who attend Ivy League schools or who drives a Rolls Royce. They are persons of average capacities, abilities, education, intelligence, and wealth”. In other words, common folk do not think, look, talk, or walk like our educated, smart, wise, rich, and above-average folk. That definition helps prove Chesterton’s claim that common sense and common man are under constant attack today! Urban Dictionary’s definition is painfully narrow-minded while trying to be broad. It unfairly portrays all common folk the same and rather despicably! 

Perhaps my father was right when he lamented that higher education (graduate degrees) knocked common sense out of me [and the writers of Urban Dictionary]. At the time he said these words, I didn’t bother to ask him what he meant. Years later, I wish I had because Dad may have been a closeted Chestertonian. Consider the similarity between Dad’s words and those of  G. K.  Chesterton who wrote: “the surprising thing about common sense is how uncommon it has become.  And common things are the basis of commons sense even though common things are not commonplace; they are terrible and startling, death for instance and first love.” 

Why is Chesterton controversial when he merely seems to prop up the common folk and common sense? Here’s why! “Chesterton argued eloquently against all the trends that eventually took over the 20th century: materialism, scientific determinism, moral relativism, and spineless agnosticism. He also argued against both socialism and capitalism and showed why they have both been the enemies of freedom and justice in modern society. And what did he argue for? What was it he defended? He defended “the common man” and “common sense”. He defended the poor. He defended the family. He defended beauty. And he defended Christianity and the Catholic Faith. These don’t play well in the classroom, in the media, or in the public arena. And that is probably why he is neglected. The modern world prefers writers who are snobs, who have exotic and bizarre ideas, who glorify decadence, who scoff at Christianity, who deny the dignity of the poor, and who think freedom means no responsibility.”  [Dale Ahlquist. The Apostle of Common Sense.] Today’s culture seems hell-bent on continuing down that same path unfortunately; but that’s what happens when we lose common sense. 

Harriet Beecher Stowe defined common sense another way: “Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they should be.” This gives credence to the grouping of common sense with other virtues. When understood as a virtue, we begin to realize that common sense allows us to do things as they should be.  It allows us to see things more clearly! It gives us more insight into right and wrong. It recognizes sin and vice for what they are - evil. It recognizes right and virtue for what they are - good. Common sense help us discern right from wrong. It encourages us to sync our moral compass with God’s. Common sense helps us assess the morality and  consequences of our choices and actions. Common sense allows us to see the differences between good and evil. Finally, common sense helps us to choose what is good for the sake of others. You have  already learned that the basic characteristic of any virtue is the habitual and firm disposition to do the good. [CCC p. 903] That is why common sense is a virtue. When attached to Christ and his grace, we naturally think, do, say and believe things more fully thereby increasing our common sense. “Take away the supernatural, and what remains is the unnatural.” [Heretics by G. K. ] In other words, common sense knows better than to try to disprove the supernatural. Common sense urged the framers of the Constitution to put to paper inalienable rights of all people in order to form a more perfect union. These rights do not come from the government but from God Himself. The early fathers clearly demonstrated common sense as they wrote that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

The virtue of common sense should cause us to stop, look, pray, and think before choosing because [borrowing from Chesterton} the act of defending common sense has even today all the exhilaration of a vice!  Putting common sense to work helps us avoid the creation of unmanageable contradictions that hurt us. “The only thing surprising about common sense is how uncommon is has become” without us noticing the why, when and the how it happened. [my interpretation of Chesterton]

The companion virtues to common sense include gratitude, prudence and charity! Vices that oppose common sense include the lack of faith, hope and love; selfishness; ingratitude; entitlement; and foolishness, disbelief; misinterpretation; and thoughtlessness. Common sense is lost through the vices and personal sin. 

Is it easy to put on and have the virtue of common sense today? Is the self-arming of any virtue easy? The answer is no and never —  for all the obvious reasons. That’s why and how saints have so much to teach us about this life and the next — especially with regard to faith, reason, and personal virtue!  And that includes G. K.  Chesterton - the apostle of common sense — who may one day join the ranks of sainted men and women including Saint John Paul ll; Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Saint Gianna, and Saint Maximillian Kolbe, etc.  “Those who aspire to holiness become for us a way of knowing Christ, for Christ introduces himself to the world, not merely in abstractions or emotions or institutions but through the people he has called to be his friends.” [Bishop Robert Barron] Chesterton certainly invites us to put on common sense par excellence. G. K.  invites us to be grateful to God for giving us unconditional love and life! 

And so the campaign for the beatification of G. K. Chesterton has begun; the investigations that are necessary for beatification are still in the infancy stage - the production of prayer cards. Whether or not G. K.  is canonized by the Church, he still stands out as a rare genius when it comes to the practice of virtuous common sense!

Points to ponder: 

1. Add G. K.  Chesterton to your 2018 reading list. Where to begin? I would recommend picking up a copy of  Dale Ahlquist’s book entitled G. K.  Chesterton The Apostle of Common Sense. This book provides a brief overview of fourteen Chesterton books. The summary of a specific book may pique your interest! Start with that one. Also, James Parker, writing in the Atlantic, has the following advice. “If you’ve got a couple of days, read his impish, ageless, inside-out terrorist thriller The Man Who Was Thursday. If you’ve got an afternoon, read his masterpiece of Christian apologetics Orthodoxy: ontological basics retailed with a blissful, zooming frivolity, Thomas Aquinas meets Eddie Van Halen. If you’ve got half an hour, read “The Blue Cross,” the first and most glitteringly perfect of his stories featuring the crime-busting village priest Father Brown. If you’ve got only 10 minutes, read his essay A Much Repeated Repetition.” [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/a-most-unlikely-saint/386243/]
2. Write down what you are grateful for each day of 2018 including personal hardships and challenges. Ponder how these challenges and hardships help increase your friendship with Christ. 
3. Practice common sense.  
4. Learn about Natural Law catholic studies and experts. The following is a very brief description of moral law derived from several sources. The Theory of Natural Law maintains that moral law transcends time, culture, and government. Universal moral code applies to all mankind regardless of time because God created each of us in His image and likeness. Because of sin, we need God’s grace to practice what is right and avoid what is wrong. God’s moral code is universal and has been imprinted in the hearts of every person; his moral code is the fundamental basis of any just society. 
5. Teach your children to be grateful for their lives. 
6. Teach your children to think about the consequences of their behavior. 
7. List the contradictions that confine, restrict and remove common sense [as a result of consumerism, materialism, relativism, individualism, socialism, capitalism, atheism, etc.]
8. How does common sense fights off the isms listed above? 

If You See Something, Say Something

If  You See Something, Say Something … 

Dorothy Day and Peter Mauyrin, co-founders of the Catholic Worker Movement, defined a good society as one that makes it easy to be good. When asked, a group of students admitted to me that it is not easy to be good today — and for a variety of reasons. They cited the usual reasons: drugs, money, materialism, consumerism, and sexual decoys. But not one of them admitted to knowing or having the necessary tools to withstand these decoys. 

Raising children has always been challenging. It’s probably fair to state that it will always be challenging to raise any person with a free will. But why does it feel especially problematic today? I will argue that it is because we have become such a tolerant people! 

Yes, we have learned how to be tolerant and so we raise tolerant children. But tolerance shoves authentic love right out of our hearts, minds and souls. It breaks my heart to watch middle school aged children approach each other every morning at the corner school bus stop. All of the children arrive from the houses that sit within a block of each other; yet, every day the children act as if they don’t know each other and have never seen each other before.  The children approach the stop reluctantly, and then just stand quietly together yet apart. In fact, the students remain a good yardstick away from each other. They do not acknowledge each other with either a glance or a word — yet they were created to be social beings! What’s up with the distance between these kids? These kids totally ignore each other — and every day! This is the freshest face of  tolerance; it looks and feels kind of ugly…

Hollywood just got rocked by one of its biggest scandals ever. Finger pointing in all directions is still going on. The only good news about the scandal is that it might pave the way for us to recognize how and why tolerance is largely to blame here.

Yet, every society requires authentic love to survive and thrive. We are all called to love each other as Christ loves us. Our social contract with society should mean that we honor moral living for the sake of others. And that requires the arming of self with pivotal personal virtues including Justice, Fortitude, Temperance and Prudence. So, when we see something, we must say something for the sake of others. We are all harmed by the fact that tolerance beats out love. Thankfully, random acts of love committed during recent hurricane, firestorm, and earthquake tragedies helped remind us of what our real social contract with others ought to look and feel like. We are indebted to love as Christ loves us — that is our mandate today, tomorrow and the next. 

Societies thrive when social relationships are healthy and good; this requires that we challenge each other to become the best version of themselves. It’s not ok to allow the young to ignore each other at the corner bus stop. It’s not ok to allow a grandma to continue getting gruffer and rougher as she ages just because she is getting older. It's not ok that mom and dad don’t have time for their children but have time for their bosses. It’s not ok that marriages dissolve and families continue to be torn apart. It’s not ok that pornography keeps being allowed to pummel US families to death with its falsified images and messages. It’s not ok to use anyone for any reason; and it's never ok to allow oneself to be used by someone else in order to get ahead. We need to say something when we see these things happening rather than standing silently around with our hands in our pockets like the tolerant school bus children. Real relationships thrive on authentic love; they falter under tolerance. The same goes for society at large. 

Recent events expose how wrong we have been about tolerance and the you do your thing and let me do my thing mentality [aka relativism]. For too long, we have allowed really bad actors and really bad actions and activities to break apart families and communities under the disguise of tolerance. We hide behind the false notion that talking about sex, politics and religion is the problem — rather than the solution.  We hide behind the banner of tolerance rather than standing for goodness and rightness and against wrongness and badness. And there is plenty of that going around as noticed by the kids in my group who admitted it is really hard to be a good teen today. 

Have you noticed that tolerance forces us to use newly coined words and phrases that have little meaning while dropping off the use of meaningful words and phrases from conversations? When was the last time you heard someone insist that virtue is the antidote for all the wrongs in our society?  They are right, by the way — as well as citing the need for faith, prayer, and self sacrifice. 

And what about within your own families? Surely, you may have noticed an emerging adult son become overly distracted by activities that do not make him a better version of himself. Perhaps his relationship with a girlfriend is disconcerting to you. What do you say? The culture tells us to hold back — say nothing — while hoping that things get better. How is that working out for him and you? Wouldn’t it be better to say something when you see something? All the while employing the cardinal virtues when speaking out of course. Or do you just tolerate situations and circumstances to keep a very fragile peace? What do you say when your beautiful daughter dresses to impress for the wrong reasons? When we see something, we must say something out of love for the whole person! 

Pooh to those who taught us that it's not polite to talk about sex, politics and religion. This revisionist tolerance pushed aside real Love and replaced it with fake love. This made it harder to be good and to go about the business of guiding each other to live and love as God intended.

TRUST

“Trust is a fundamental basis of morality. ”

A virtue is readily identified as the good actor while an opposing vice is the bad one. Virtue is always a virtue; vice is always a vice. Right?

Trust and Trustworthiness are virtues and Distrust and Untrustworthiness are opposing vices; however, there are certain situations and circumstances that seem to warrant distrust and untrustworthiness, in my opinion. For example, some adults [young and old] are all too easily duped or deceived by people you or I would naturally suspect. Yet, these adults are often described as being very trusting individuals. What about the person who refuses to report an acquaintance’s criminal activity? Perhaps the criminal would feel that the silent friend is very trustworthy whereas you or I would call it something else. However, being on-guard against con artists and revealing criminal activities would always be good choices rather than bad ones. The problem seems to be a matter of semantics rather than concluding that sometimes virtues morph into vice or that vice can become a virtue. Being easily duped is best described as gullibility, immaturity, or callowness rather than trust. Similarly, false loyalty or faulty loyalty — rather than trustworthy — best describes the friend who keeps secret the crimes of his criminal friends. We should be able to state that a virtue is always a virtue and a vice is always a vice. Let’s move on and discuss the virtue called trust.

Trust is “not merely a feeling; but, it is a feeling that necessarily flows into doing something good for one another.” [adapted from Rabbi David Wolpe’s definition of love. Wolpe was named among the 50 most influential Jews in the world by the Jerusalem Post. Feb. 16, 2016. http://time.com/4225777/meaning-of-love/]. 

Like love, trust naturally brings goods and good things to other people. Let’s discuss them. The goods and good things just mentioned are intrinsic and extrinsic goods. They arrive in the same measure that we trust one another. Trust makes it possible to want to help other people. Trust is the virtue that makes cooperation possible while also making cooperation easier and simpler. Ultimately, trust deepens our respect, compassion and empathy for others. It facilitates healthy, mutual dependencies among those we trust. Trust promotes friendships. It develops healthy work environments. Trust promotes social health and wellbeing. Trust encourages neighbors to help each other; thereby making the neighborhood an enjoyable place to live. Trust is the cement that bonds people together. Trust enables us to grow in our understanding about other people and the world they live in. Trust helps us feel secure about ourselves. Trust helps the people we trust to feel good about themselves. Trust creates natural, healthy autonomies and dependencies within societies and families. Trust fosters moral maturity and responsibility toward others. Trust is a necessary ingredient for moral decision making and corresponding action. Trust helps us feel appreciated, understood, and loved by others. Trust opens us up to each other while rendering us open and vulnerable; yet, we don’t worry about vulnerability when interacting with those we trust.  Trust is the necessary virtue for all healthy interpersonal relationships; but especially between spouses; parents and their children; and God and his children. These positive effects reveal why trust is indeed more than a feeling — it is a feeling that necessarily flows into doing something good for one another. Trust is inextricably linked to our feelings and emotions. Trust develops other companion virtues including hope and optimism. Trust facilitates the giving and receiving of the gift of “assured reliance on someone’s character, ability, and strengths”. [Merriam Webster’s definition] In other words, trust is basically an implicit promise to honor, to be loyal to, and to be respectful of another person. It is fundamental to the marriage vows even if the promise to trust and to be trustworthy is not expressly stated. [Many of the previous various ideas are adopted from the following source:  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trust/]

As already stated, virtuous behavior naturally spawns other virtuous acts. Trust supports and is supportive of many different, yet similar, companion, human virtues including loyalty, respect, hope, optimism, trustworthiness, love, justice, cooperation, and compassion for others. Eons ago, Sirach taught: “If you choose, you can keep the commandments; loyalty is doing the will of God. Set before you are fire and water; to whatever you choose, stretch out your hand. Before everyone are life and death, whichever they choose will be given them.” [Sirach 15: 15-17] Consider how this applies to all virtue and specifically trust. 

When trust is absent, opposing vices easily fill its void including: betrayal, unhealthy doubt, pessimism, skepticism, disloyalty, disrespect, hatred, injustice; and deceit. Recent public protests and demonstrations showcase many of these vices which tear down trust necessary for healthy, social co-existence. The protests show that our culture suffers from an underlying distrust of persons, ideas, and even agencies including the Church and other institutions. Societies will struggle and even fall when citizens grow excessively wary of each other’s words, actions and motives. Friendships fall apart when distrust replaces trust. Marriages fail when deceitfulness overtakes trustworthiness. One’s overall wellbeing is sometimes a measure of our personal treasure trove of virtues vs vice; the same can be said of entire cultures. 

So, how do we put on trust? Trust is both learned and earned! As we mature, we learn to trust others through verification. We begin with those closest to us. Consider babies. At birth, babies are naturally trusting because they have yet to experience disappointment or betrayal. Around seven months of age, babies begin to express stranger fear/anxiety because they finally realize that everyone is not necessarily mother, father or siblings; although they may have developed a preference for certain individuals within their immediate family. This new awareness protects babies as they are not yet able to verify the trustworthiness of strangers. Their fear of strangers gradually diminishes as baby observes his parents interact with friendly ‘strangers’. Even toddlers and pre-schoolers remain wary of strangers longer than we realize and for good reason. Gradually, children give and receive conditional trust because of emerging verification skills. 

How do we verify the trustworthiness of others? The verification processes involve studying a person of interest, observing him while interacting with others; listening to his ideas and thoughts; discussing topics with him; questioning his ideas; receiving input from others about him; getting to know him personally; and trying to understand his motives, beliefs and worldview. It is next to impossible to verify someone’s motives — even though motives really tell us who the real person is. All of us ought to reveal our motives so others don’t have to guess them — assuming we understand them ourselves. When a person’s motives remain a mystery, we are forced to draw conclusions about his/her trustworthiness based on the other verification systems listed above; our final conclusion about their trustworthiness may be off the mark when jumping to conclusions about their motives.  Trust eventually loses most of its conditionality when determining that someone is trustworthy; we then form the belief that the person of interest is truthful, sincere, and trustworthy — or not. 

Trust is shattered through the act of betrayal of someone’s trust. We automatically link betrayal to cheating on a spouse but it is has a broader context. Feeling betrayed may happen for the following reasons and situations; including the discovery of a hidden addiction of a loved one, friend or coworker. Persons who feel used by someone for any reason — financial, social, or others — will often feel betrayed by the person they trusted. Getting ripped off  financially by a trusted person is betrayal. Constant lying to someone betrays trust. Talking or gossiping about others can make the person being talked about feel betrayed. Abandonment - whatever the age or relationship can feel like betrayal. Revealing someone’s deepest secret without permission is a form of betrayal. Giving up on a friendship or marriage for little or no reason feels like betrayal. Discovery that a loved one has committed a serious crime feels like betrayal. Turning friends or family members against each other during arguments, court cases, or work disputes, can feel like betrayal. The pain felt by betrayal depends on the degree of trust placed on the betrayer. It also depends on the seriousness of the offense to the person who has been betrayed. Betrayal is one of the deepest hurts ever felt because it lays bare a person’s vulnerability and exposes it to the world as if it were their fault for trusting someone. Betrayal takes advantage of a person’s good will and optimistic hopes. It forces us to erase our belief system about someone. [https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/04/12/dealing-with-betrayal/ and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/worse-than-cheating_n_6036228.html]

Unconditional trust has no reason to monitor, track, question, or constrict the actions of someone we trust. However, after betrayal, that is exactly what we are tempted to do to prevent future episodes of betrayal and to diminish the hurt that we feel. These self-preservation efforts trend us toward becoming invulnerable rather than open to new-found trust. Broken trust doesn’t just lie dormant; it remains lost. Consequently, a betrayed person is also in danger of succumbing to vice that pretends to heal brokenness including acting out with anger, disrespect, hatred, injustice, vengeance, retaliating against the perpetrator; and other vice. Perhaps William Congreve himself betrayed a woman and therefore knew full well her fury when writing:“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Unfortunately, the betrayer often ends up in a better spot — emotionally,  psychologically, and socially —  than the person he/she betrayed.

Attempting to control someone's will, actions or life does not heal anyone; neither does it remove distrust. Betrayal undermines one’s sense of confidence and reality about self.  How does healing take place? It never helps to be told: just get over it or its time to move on.The emotions and feelings involved after a betrayal are very real and they run too deep to ignore, stuff inside or bat away without suffering serious consequences to social, psychological, physical, spiritual, or mental wellbeing.

The hurt caused by the betrayal becomes the opportunity to become even more merciful, forgiving, strong, and Christ-like through prayer, appropriate personal action, and decision making. It helps to seek expert advice so that the path forward is highly influenced by helpful directions, guidance, and oversight. This helps to ensure that he/she remains appropriately open and vulnerable, a just forgiver, and has new opportunities for personal growth.

How does disappointment in someone compare with betrayal? The difference between the two are hugely different. Disappointment does not feel as crushing as the feelings caused by betrayal. If you wondered about the difference, you probably haven’t been betrayed; perhaps you have merely felt  disappointed in someone. Feeling disappointed in someone proves two things: the trust we had in that person was very conditional — and probably for very just cause; and the act that disappointed us was probably not that serious. Let me give a few examples. Most parents realize their children are not perfect; therefore, they expect to be disappointed occasionally by their child’s choices, decisions and lack of maturity. Of course, committed parents are disappointed to learn that their child was unruly in the classroom, disrespected a teacher; was mean to another child; lied about something; was disobedient; cheated on an exam; or other misbehavior. Yet, we expect some of these things to happen as our children experience new people, places and things. Children have yet to mature so they do stupid things, make immature decisions, and say inappropriate words. They will never be perfect; neither will we. The feelings of disappointment range from low to high depending on the expectations of the parents, whether the act was new or repeat, and the degree of the wrongdoing. Like betrayal, disappointment provides us with the opportunity to teach, train, and supervise our children so they learn from their mistakes and our disappointments. Disappointment provides parents the opportunity to help their child become a better version of himself. [Matthew Kelly] So, parents set consequences, set higher expectations about future results, and monitor their children’s compliance. During a Fortifying Families of Faith workshop for parents, a psychologist stated that its important to remind our children that we trust them but we don’t trust their judgement  — yet. This statement seems to miss the truth about Trust. Unconditional trust involves trusting someone’s character, judgement, choices, decisions, etc.  Parents lack trust in their child because their whole personhood is immature! The way teens see others, ask questions, calculate situations, interpret, judge, and verify people, places and things is immature. We don’t just call into question their ability to judge; parents ought to call their whole verification processes into question. Parents’ trust of their children should remain highly conditional until they demonstrate mature behavior consistently. Until then, parents will be occasionally disappointed by our teens and adolescents and even college age children. 

Who do we trust fully and unconditionally? Your answer should focus on Three Persons - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Everyone else was born under the [except Mary] yoke of original sin and susceptible to the influence of concupiscence. None of us are completely and unconditionally trustworthy in all situations and circumstances. But we can work on reversing the effects of that condition can’t we? Not one of us will ever have to verify the trust of the three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They will not disappoint or betray us — ever. Even though we betray God through personal sin, He does not turn on us. God’s response to our betrayals — past, present and future —  was His willingness to sacrifice His only son - Jesus. And Jesus’ yes was his response to His Father. Similar to human betrayals, Jesus’ sacrifice becomes our opportunity to receive God’s perfect love and grace. 

How do we learn to trust God? Trust begins naturally and gradually opens us up to pondering supernatural trust. We begin to better understand God’s Supernatural Trust by understanding the great blessings provided to us by natural trust. We begin to understand supernatural trust by meditation on the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus. He teaches us what betrayal feels like and how to respond. 

Only God is perfectly Trustworthy; only He is full of Truth, Integrity, Purity of Motive, Optimism, and authentic Love. God will never betray us; we can depend on that. That is what drives our Faith, Hope and Charity. God’s trust is the standard to use when learning and earning fellow human’s trust. God’s Trust created the world; it continues to support creation despite the original betrayal by Adam and Eve; the next betrayal by God’s beloved Jewish people, and our ongoing betrayal of God because of sin. He continues to love and forgive and show mercy — unconditionally — if we seek it. Let this be our example to live by. 

Questions to ponder: 

1. Pray for Trust. 
2. Have you ever been betrayed? What was your response? Have you forgiven them? Have you been able to re-learn how to trust that person? Why or why not? 
3. Have you ever betrayed someone? What were the consequences and effects on you and the person you betrayed? Have you sought forgiveness and mercy from them? 
4. What does trust mean to you? 
5. Did you disagree with anything in this article? What was it? 
6. Did you ever consider other types of betrayals before — other than within marriage? 
7. Have you been disappointed in your children or spouse or siblings? Explain how that differs from feelings of betrayal. 
8. List the opportunities provided by the betrayals and disappointments. Thank God for these opportunities. 
9. How does Sirach 15:15-17 pertain to any discussion about trust? 

Wisdom 

by Linda Kracht 

God is the Blessed Trinity made up of three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The first person of the Blessed Trinity is Our Father the Creator. He is not the Son or the Spirit. We pray to Him when we say the Our Father. He is humanized by artists who paint an old man with a long, white, flowing beard and hair and surrounded by saints and angels. This humanization of the Creator was encouraged by His Son, Jesus, who wants us to see the First Person as our Father and so taught us to call him Father. And so we pray to Him using the very words of Jesus  - Our Father who art in Heaven… This prayer helps us to see and feel the Creator in very endearing terms - caring, extraordinary yet touchable, and His beloved. 

The second person of the Trinity is the Son. He is our Savior. He is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. We call him Jesus. He is the one we can most easily identify with because He became human for our sakes while not abandoning His Divine privilege. And He did that for our sakes. It is hard to imagine - yet easily imagined if we dwell on it - how much humility and love would be required to take on the lowest form of a person. To some of us that could mean being willing to become a street beggar or the person of the lowest rung of any caste system found in our world. The suffering would be intense as would be the humiliation. Yet, Jesus did it willingly for our sakes. What LOVE! 

The third person of the Blessed Trinity is the Infuser of Seven Gifts: wisdom, understanding, 

counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. He teaches us how to pray. He is also not the Father or the Son. Clearly, the Holy Spirit is the most mysterious of the Blessed Mystery. 

The above foundational beliefs are gleaned from the Catechism; they become very significant and important as we describe God but words still fail to capture the essence of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. That essence lies far beyond our intelligent understandings and human perspectives. Yet, when we meditate on the Mystery itself, we give praise to the Almighty Mystery. It becomes our open admission to being a beloved creature of the Creator. In light of that statement, let’s mediate  about the Holy Spirit (recommended by today’s Mass homilist) using today’s reading from The Book of Wisdom 7:22b-8:1. 

It describes Wisdom as  “A spirit, intelligent, holy, unique, Manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain. Not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing. Pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle. Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion; she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity. For she is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nought that is sullied enters into her. She is the refulgence of the eternal light; the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his Goodness. And she who is one, can do all things, and renews everything while herself perduring. She produces friends of God and prophets. For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light, she takes precedence for that indeed, night supplants but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom. She reaches from end to end mightily and governs all things well.”

Whether the reading is describing the Spirit or the spirit (grace) of God matters not simply because Wisdom comes from God, it describes God and therefore can it can be said that it is the Spirit of God.

What do the various words mean in this reading? Spirit can mean one’s soul or the qualities that form one’s character or essence (our ethos). The latter seems the most fitting definition to apply to the first verse. Therefore, the opening verses seem to suggest that when combined with intelligence and holiness Wisdom is unique and capable of manifesting itself in many different ways and forms  (manifold). Wisdom is subtle, agile, clear and sure. Wisdom does not seek evil but loves the good. It penetrates to the core; it is kind, secure, peaceful. 

The tone of the words used seem to begin describing Wisdom - the Holy Spirit- rather than just wisdom - the virtue and the grace imparted to all holy souls. When we repeat the words, it feels as if we are giving praise to the Holy Spirit. We are acknowledging that He is all powerful and all seeing, all penetrating, a pure light; the aura of the might of God, the refulgence (shining brightly) of eternal light; able to do all things. Wisdom renews everything (a petition few actually ask for in the Come Holy Spirit prayer) while herself perduring (remaining in existence). She is fairer than anything created - fairer than Sun and the stars and the arrangement of the heavens. She is more than light which gives way to night and darkness (here darkness infers evil). The passage declares that Wisdom always prevails over evil and darkness (wickedness); she governs all things well and mightily. 

How great is Wisdom and wisdom! Yes, you readers have just given thanks for the gift and the Gift (the Holy Spirit). Amen! Amen!

Can You Name Them?

by Linda Kracht 

Can you name them? Can you name the primary virtue that is one’s personal resolve of the mind and heart to maintain discipline over one’s physical (and sexual) body? The same virtue couples natural desires with what (another virtue)?  What is required to maintain this virtue (three points)? What is the primary and opposing vice to the primary virtue? This primary vice couples natural desires with what other vice?

Please do not plug these questions into your handy dandy internet browsers because, yes, the answers will likely pop right up. These are not trick questions. But if there is a very general inability to get the answers right from among this population of readers, it is highly likely that others will not know the answers either. And if people in general are not acquainted with these virtues and their opposing vices, it helps to explain why society seems to be going in nay wrong directions. When we should know but don’t know these things, then we can’t teach them or give witness to them to those are less likely to understand and/or embrace them. The opposing vices in question explain why hurt people really are hurting many other people - of all ages.  

Please send your answers to each of the above questions along with your name, religious affiliation, age, address, and email address to our email account: info@fortifyingfamiliesoffaith.com. Respondents who answer all five questions accurately will receive a free bookmark from our collection. All names received (with right answers) will be entered into a drawing to receive a free copy of A Book For All Seasons. 

Obviously the readers are on the honor system which means that we presume you will answer the question without any personal help; i.e. you will not look up answers from any sources or resources. And you are the person sending in the response.

There is a purpose behind this quest and it is not to give away free things or to introduce me or my company  [Fortifying Families of Faith] to you. The responses received will help form my next talking points while teaching parents and their adolescents about virtues in general and more specifically about these virtues in question. My hypothesis is already in place; it will be up to the readers to debunk or strengthen it.

If you do not receive anything from me you can assume that your answers were wrong - or at least one of them. You will find the right answers in my column entitled Can You Name Them - the followup or by emailing me. 

Lastly, donations or outright orders of our materials are always welcome to help defray costs for projects such as this one. Mail donations to www.fortifyingfamiliesoffaith.com. 

I am looking forward to hearing from you!