A renewed life in virtue

St. Augustine wrote, “Peace is the tranquility of order.” The beginning of the year is a great time to reflect on our approach to life, especially when the quiet of January in North Dakota invites us to slow down and turn inward. After the joy of Christmas and the welcome of the New Year, the cold and stillness of winter give us space to consider how our lives might become more ordered, more peaceful, and more open to God. In the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, it would be good to prepare ourselves for the months ahead and look at ourselves in the light of the virtues. We will briefly consider them as understood through classical wisdom and within the Catholic tradition. In the past two articles (New Earth, Nov. & July/Aug. issues), we reflected on our natural intuition for transcendent values and on the inescapable reality of death. In this third part, I would like to turn our attention toward life, specifically toward how we should conduct ourselves by applying the virtues, so that when the moment of death and eternity arrives, we will be ready.

Virtues can shape our choices and help us grow into the people God calls us to be. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good… They dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love” (CCC 1804).

The virtues we call the cardinal virtues were first recognized by the classical philosophers, especially Plato and later Aristotle. Although both identified Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance as essential, each understood them somewhat differently. Plato approached them as qualities that bring harmony to the soul, while Aristotle saw them as stable habits formed through repeated good actions. Both recognized that a well-ordered society, and a well-ordered personal life, depend on these four fundamental dispositions. These insights were later refined and deepened by Christian thought, especially by St. Thomas Aquinas. Human reasoning can bring us very close to recognizing truths that exist on a natural level, truths that align so well with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church.

I would like to focus especially on Temperance, as I see it as a kind of bridge between the material and spiritual worlds. However, let us first briefly review the other virtues. Prudence is the ability to differentiate between good and evil and to choose rightly. Justice is the habit of giving each person what is due to them. Fortitude is the strength to remain steadfast in what is right and helps us resist peer pressure, persevere through difficulties, and remain consistent in our commitments. Temperance is the moderation that brings order to our desires. Both Plato and Aristotle saw the virtues as the foundations of a healthy society, because only virtuous individuals can create a community ordered toward the good. We are invited to live lives shaped by Temperance, which encourages moderation and the pursuit of higher and lasting goods rather than the search for fleeting pleasures. This stands in contrast to many features of contemporary culture. The stream of stimulation in social media’s constant updates, for example, can stir unnecessary desires and create a restless interior life, a life that struggles to find God. The Church teaches the value of fasting and the patient postponing of gratification in order to gain spiritual freedom. Scripture reinforces this. The Book of Wisdom praises the disciplined and ordered life, and in the Gospels, Christ warns against allowing bodily desires to rule the heart. Jesus calls us to self-mastery and purity of intention, which are at the very heart of Temperance.

The Catholic tradition also teaches that the cardinal virtues reach their fullness only when joined to the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. These virtues do not arise from human effort but are infused by God, enabling us to live in relationship with Him. While the cardinal virtues shape our actions and habits, the theological virtues orient our entire being toward God Himself. They elevate our moral life beyond what we can achieve naturally and open the soul to divine grace.

In many ways, Temperance can be seen as a path toward the theological virtues, uniting what is intellectual with what is transcendent. Christ and the Church repeatedly teach that prayer and fasting open the heart to God. When we freely deny ourselves certain earthly pleasures, we create room within the soul for God’s grace to enter. We often hear the saying that in silence we find God. This silence is not only the absence of noise. It is a deeper interior stillness, where our desires no longer distract the heart. As Temperance orders our desires, the wanting of pleasure is gradually redirected toward the wanting of God Himself. It is in this interior openness that Faith, Hope, and Charity take root and flourish. In this way, we create space for God within ourselves.

Reflect and consider: How can you incorporate the cardinal and theological virtues into your New Year’s resolutions?