Revolution of Virtue

Zenit is reporting that Pope Benedict XVI is working toward a "Revolution of Virtue," through his encyclicals Deus Caritas Est and Spe Salvi, and will be continuing to spread this revolution during his visit to the United States.

Although this task is not without its precedent in the pontificate of John Paul the Great, the encyclicals of Pope Benedict seem to deal directly and deliberately with two of the three theological virtues. Assuming that he does in fact write a follow-up encyclical on faith, we will have three documents which give specific direction for a renewal of virtue which will spark cultural revolution.

So what's the point? Anyone can notice that we lack faith, hope, and love (charity) in our modern world? Instead of the theological virtues, we have secular replacements (a part of the devil's plan, no doubt). Certainly we believe things, but we only believe those things which can be measured and proven empirically...or, somewhat ironically, those things which, regardless of being without any proof, we wish to believe (I think the common trend here is that we believe what is easy to believe, whether by proof or by bias). We also place a value on secular rewards, the hopes and dreams of this present life. As for love, we replace it with lust, and our charity consists of Oprah's Big Give. Western civilization has been falling to a lazy form of virtue.

The word virtue comes from the Latin virtus, meaning manhood. The problem is that over the last century or so, our idea of manhood has changed into what can iconographically be described as Homer Simpson. The media tells us that men are overweight, unthinking carnivores who lack self-control and have only one thing on their minds (and we all know what that is). We, as Catholic men, should take this revolution of virtue in a special direction. What better vision, what better icon could there be for our role-model than St. Joseph? Just and merciful, humble and regal, obedient and responsible, St. Joseph embodies authentic manhood more than any other saint. There is no other man God would have chosen to be the foster father of His Son.

So, my question to you is this: in what specific ways does St. Joseph practice faith, hope, and love? What can we learn from him as a model of true masculine virtue?

As an aside, the first chapter of a new book I've been reading recently, The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Craft of Catechesis (written in part by Barbara Morgan, founder of the catechetics program at Franciscan University of Steubenville, the flagship of American catechetical institutions today), discusses the charge given to Alcuin by the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne to produce a way of infusing society with Christianity. I believe that this book is a timely commentary on the needs of catechesis, which are ever more relevant in the context of our post-Christian society. Perhaps the methods given by Alcuin and advanced by this book will be helpful in leading a revolution of virtue through catechesis.

In any event, I look forward to cooperating with Pope Benedict on this revolution of virtue. Let us return our society to a truly Christian one. Let's fill it with faith, hope, and love once again!

His Servant and Yours,

Micah