MM#335--A Sound Spiritual Life Is Found In the Virtues

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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

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Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

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Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute.

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We often talk about living the virtuous life in these Mojo Minutes, but it is not often that we are validated that living a virtuous life is the sure path.

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Often people in our culture poo-poo the life of virtues with the life of the here and now.

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Life is short.

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Do it my way, sang the great Frank Sinatra, and so it is with great delight that I came across this book written in the 12th century.

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Let me go to the opening quote.

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The flourishing of virtues is the surest and most reliable sign of a sound spiritual life.

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Hence, there is no more effective way of attaining spiritual progress than by the conscious cultivation of the virtues.

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It is this goal, the cultivation of virtues, which is the theme of this fascinating work.

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Now, that's just a translator's note.

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But wow, just wow.

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And what was the translator translating?

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Well, it was a book titled the Paradise of Soul, written by St Albert the Great.

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And who was St Albert the Great?

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Also known as Albertus Magnus, bertus Magnus?

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He was a German Dominican, friar, philosopher, scientist and bishop celebrated for his comprehensive knowledge and contributions across various fields of study during the Middle Ages.

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He was born in 1200, likely in Bavaria, germany, and Albert was the eldest son of a wealthy German lord.

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His early education took place at the University of Padua, where he was introduced to the works of Aristotle, which would significantly influence his later work.

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Albert joined the Dominican Order around 1223 and pursued further studies in theology at Bologna and other locations in Germany.

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He became a lecturer At Cologne and other cities where he wrote his first major work, the Summa de Bono.

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After discussions with Philip the chancellor, albert's intellectual prowess led him to the University of Paris, kind of the mecca of where all learning was happening in the 13th century, where he became a master of theology in 1245, and he taught theology, holding the chair of theology at the College of St James.

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It's here that he teaches the great St Thomas Aquinas, who would become one of the most influential theologians in the Catholic Church and in fact worldwide for that matter.

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Influential theologians in the Catholic Church and in fact worldwide for that matter.

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No-transcript is the top of the mountain, one of the greatest doctors in the church and one of the greatest theologians to have ever lived.

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So it's not too shabby that St Albert taught St Thomas Aquinas.

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Now back to this book, paradise of Soul.

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Most likely it was written toward the end of St Albert's life he died in 1280, so the work had to have been completed before then.

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And what is fascinating is his comprehensive guide to the Christian virtues, while also offering the reader both theoretical insights and practical prayers to help us, the reader, cultivate these virtues in our lives.

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You want to talk about flourishing Holy smokes?

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This is right up our alley.

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Let's dig in even further.

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Going back to the book, certain virtues are natural, arising spontaneously from our human nature.

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Thus, humility, kindness, modesty, generosity, mercy, patience are often born in our hearts without any training or effort.

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But these virtues, which are simply part of the nature of some people, are not sufficient in themselves to merit an eternal reward or the kingdom of God, since they do not take any effort or resolution to acquire.

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Rather, our virtues must be developed beyond our purely natural characteristics, as a result of effort, intention, goodwill and training, in order to possess true merit in the sight of God.

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Now, just as certain vices are sometimes mistakenly judged to be virtues, so certain virtues can appear to be vices.

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For example, justice may seem like severity, or maturity may seem like cynicism, careful providence may seem like stinginess and constancy may seem like stubbornness.

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Indeed, all the examples given earlier may be reversed in this way.

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Ah, what wisdom in all that we just read.

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Now.

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This quote comes from the prologue, but after that comes an incredible 42 chapters of virtues.

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42 chapters, Holy smokes, my Lord.

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This is a goldmine of nuggets of wisdom Now, along with St Albert's practical advice on how to obtain these virtues, and a prayer to accompany our human efforts in this case, because without a petition to God for these graces, our human effort will go in vain.

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After all, we need God's graces to come into our souls because, after all, we are the creatures and he is the creator.

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But chapter by chapter, we cover a lot of virtues, some virtues I've never even knew existed.

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Ever heard of the virtue of Concord?

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Huh, me either.

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Let's go back to the book.

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True concord with God means to unite one's will to His, both when things are going well and, equally, when they are going badly, to strive to conform one's actions completely to the example of Jesus Christ.

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Hence St John Christosom wrote Nothing is more fitting and worthy than that of human beings should strive to imitate their creator and, according to their own abilities, to carry out the true divine will of the one who made them.

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The Lord himself desired this union when, towards the end of his earthly life, he prayed just as you, father, are in me, I am in you, so may all of these be made one in us.

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Ah, very good stuff there, and there's tons of footnotes back to scriptures so you can cross-reference stuff and dig, go down rabbit holes and dig into all these virtues.

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It's almost limitless, it seems.

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But further in my reading I came across virtue number 27.

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Liberty.

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I thought that is a strange virtue.

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I know of liberty, but is it a virtue?

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So I began to read.

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But is it a virtue?

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So I began to read.

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True liberty may be said to exist when a person is not bound by the chains of sin and vice, for these are what really imprison the soul.

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As is written, a wicked person is captured by his inequities and bound up by his chains of his sins.

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And no, sin is also what makes a person and sin is also what makes a person to become like a slave, as Scripture tells us.

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All who sin become the slaves of sin.

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To commit sin is not liberty or freedom, as some people mistakenly imagine, nor is it any part of liberty.

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St Anselm wisely observes that sin is, on the contrary, the very worst form of servitude, for there is no one who is able to liberate himself or another from this type of wretched, abject slavery.

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It cannot be achieved except by the grace of Christ.

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Accordingly, the gospel proclaims If the Son has set you free, you shall be free.

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Indeed, the person who has attained true freedom will not be held captive by any desire for temporal things, nor shall he be controlled by the praise or favor of other people, nor by considerations of his own comfort praise or favor of other people, nor by considerations of his own comfort, nor by the servile fear, nor by the delight of any transitory joys.

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We should be led to the love of true freedom by a consideration of God's divine ordinance and will, which decreed that human beings should be free.

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As a sign of this intention, god bestowed upon human beings alone free judgment and free will.

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So, as you can read and hear, every page is just full of wisdom, and wisdom from God's grace.

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Now, if you look around of what we just read, we don't see liberty exercised this way to construe liberty as a form of permissiveness or willfulness.

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I guess they believe that freedom and liberty is their ability to do anything they want.

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That is not liberty, especially if you're engaging in bad behaviors and engaging in sins.

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And so I'm thankful that St Albert comments on this.

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He must have had some knuckleheads in his own day too.

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But let's go back to the book, because he addresses these very people who most likely had told St Albert back in his day God made me free, so I can do whatever I want.

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Let's go back to the book.

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But to those who live in the world in a so-called libertine fashion or follow the calls and commands of pleasure and pride, do not achieve any true freedom at all.

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On the contrary, they become enslaved to their own vices and are soon bound up by the snares of the devil.

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Ironically, the more free and unrestrained they seem to become in their outward behavior, the more they have really become thralls and slaves of their own vile wickedness.

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Amen, amen.

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Now let's in fact close this Mojo Minute with a quote from Albertus Magnus.

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And in fact it's a prayer.

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It's a prayer for liberty.

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So let us pray.

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So let us pray.

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Most sublime liberty consists in complete submission to you who live and reign forever and ever.

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Amen.

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Thank you for joining us.

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We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

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Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

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Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.

MM#335--A Sound Spiritual Life Is Found In the Virtues

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