The Virtue of Religion and Its Practice
Summary of Headings
- The Virtue of Religion
- The Role of the Church
- Participating in Christ's Work
- Challenges in Practicing Faith
- Surrendering to God's Will
The Virtue of Religion
The highest of all the moral virtues is the virtue of religion. It's a subset of the virtue of justice. It's part of the virtue of justice. It's part of the virtue of justice because it is giving to God what is His due. It's the highest of all the moral virtues because it pertains directly to the divine, very much like the theological virtues. But it is us giving to God what is His due. But there's a problem with the problem. There's a problem with the practice of religion, and that is, we can't ever practice it well enough because we're only human. What is God's due? What is it that we owe God? The answer is very simple. Everything.
The Role of the Church
We owe Him everything. And what is it that He is owed by just being God? Everything. Because He is God. He's eternal. He's absolute. As such, it is impossible for us to be able to practice this virtue perfectly, except that we have a shortcut. We have a cheat, as it were. And that is the church. God gave us the church so that we could practice the virtue of religion as well as we can possibly practice it by giving us His own prayer, and His own teaching, and His own actions. So it's true, we as mere creatures cannot, we cannot give God His due because we are limited. He is not. He is owed absolutely everything.
He's owed eternity, but we live in time. He is owed perfection, and we are imperfect. But because of the church, because the church prays the prayer of Christ, which is a liturgy, and because the church preaches the Word of God, His own Word, He teaches us the immutable and absolute truth, his truth, HIM, Himself. Because of that, all of a sudden we can now participate IN the virtue of religion in a very direct way, in a very clear way. By participating in those things.
Participating in Christ's Work
What the priest does on the altar is the action of Christ. What he says is the Word of Christ. And that is what each and every one of us do. every one of us as Catholics must unite ourselves too. We cannot be Christ, but we can participate in the work of Christ, in his action. We cannot, excuse me, I cannot speak his words. We cannot be the source of his words, but we can preach his words faithfully and we can live them faithfully in our actions. This is what the virtue of religion does and is in us, and that is what we must now practice each and every day. But the only way to practice this to such an extent is through the Mass, is through the words of Christ. It is the only way, which is why it is so crucial, which is why the words of St. Paul today are so important.
I've handed, I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received. These are the words that are emblazoned upon the tomb of Archbishop Lefebvre for a reason, daridi quota da cepi, I have handed on that which I have received because these are the words of what the very essence of the mission of the Catholic Church is. It isn't everything that goes around it. It isn't the human institution of the Church, it isn't the persons of the hierarchy, it isn't and the persons of the priest, it isn't the persons of Holiness. Many of these definitions are taken away all the contra Support and учwerding within the guidance of Archbishop Lefebvre for webpage свобод 2015.
whomever, or even the faithful. It is the word of God. It is the prayer of God. It is the action of God. And it is direction of all things, the offering of all things to God. It is the act of religion giving to God his due, which is everything and every last one of us, every part of ourselves. That is what the mission of the church truly is. And therefore, that's the mission of each and every one of us. It's easy for us to get caught up with all the noise about canon law this and this doctrine versus that doctrine of the church, etc., etc. It's easy for us to get caught up in all of that. Those are secondary considerations. The essence is the word of Christ, the action of Christ, the work of Christ. We have to be willing participants in all of that.
But there's a problem. We aren't very willing oftentimes. We fight back. We don't like to be obedient and subservient. We like things to be our way. And there's another problem. We don't understand. We don't understand the word of God as well as we should. We don't understand the liturgy as well as we should. We don't understand any number of things. We don't understand God. How could we? He's eternal. We're
Challenges in Practicing Faith
temporal. He's absolute. We depend on him for everything. We don't understand God. We don't understand God. We don't understand God. We don't understand God. We don't understand God. He is God. We are just us. Which is one of the reasons that we don't pray very well oftentimes. We pray actively maybe, but not passively. We don't let God do the praying, and we hang on and try to pray in union with him. But rather, we try to do the prayer. We try to take control of our lives. We try to take care of control of actions. And this is not how religion works. Religion, only works as a virtue if we are offering our prayers in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass, in union with our Lord Jesus Christ. Growth and virtue only works if we are doing it in union with our Lord Jesus Christ, out of charity and love of God, and not for any other personal or human gain. It's crucial that we understand this distinction. It is all about God. We
are secondary characters in all of this. God chooses us to carry his word. He chooses us to participate in his actions. He chooses us and invites us to be a part of this, and it's our job to live this life. It's our job to surrender to him and to participate with as full a heart as possible, so that we can live this life. We are secondary characters in all of this. God chooses us to be a part of this, and it's our job to surrender to him and to participate with as full a heart as possible, so that we can be participants in the act of religion itself, giving to God what is truly his due, true justice in this world. But it is not done without violence, violence to ourselves, violence by a world and a culture that cannot appreciate or understand it or subject itself to the order of God, violence to our receptors, the things that he has given us, the things that we have given him, the things that we have given him,
the things that we have given him, the things that we have given him, the things that we have given him. We need to hear and speak and see all things, because we need to see more than just the human side of things. We need to see more than just the humanity of the church. We need to see and hear the voice of God himself. We need to see beyond just the human actions of a few people. We need to be able to see the hand of God in all things. The divine must be omnipresent for us because he is omnipresent. The church must be omnipresent in our thoughts and in our prayers because she is God's. She belongs to him. The mass must be more than just simply a taste. It is something that is divine and that brings us to God himself. It is from him and it is to him and that is all there is to it. The fact that there are humans actually a part of it is secondary and accidental. It is God himself who
makes it. It is God himself who makes it. It is God himself who makes it. It is God himself who makes it and it is God himself who affects it and it is God himself who is the end for it. We are the instruments, nothing else. The more that we appreciate this, the more that we appreciate the true mission of the church and the more that we appreciate the true mission of the church, the more we can be a part of it and share this great act that we have for the rest of the world. But it requires us to have the generosity,
Surrendering to God's Will
to annihilate ourselves and let God do the speaking, let God do the praying, let God do everything else. We just have to participate actively, participate by surrendering ourselves more and more completely to him, and by uniting ourselves to his passion through the holy sacrifice of the mass, and by doing so, be eternally one with him and completing the mission of the church here on earth, so that we may be part of the church in heaven. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Summary
The homily begins by discussing the virtue of religion, the highest of all moral virtues, which is a subset of the virtue of justice. It emphasizes that while we owe God everything, our human limitations prevent us from practicing this virtue perfectly. The Church is presented as the means through which we can practice the virtue of religion by participating in Christ's prayer, teaching, and actions. The homily stresses the importance of the Mass and living out the words of Christ as central to this practice. Finally, the homily addresses the challenges of understanding and practicing our faith, urging us to surrender to God and unite ourselves with His passion through the holy sacrifice of the Mass, thus fulfilling the mission of the Church.