Fr. Jude on Morality and Virtue

Here are my notes from last nights talk. Enjoy!

* Pagan's perform their prayer and sacrifice specifically to appease their god(s), but practice no morality (i.e. they practice orgies etc.)

* emotions are not sinful, temptations are not sin, but sin is a choice to commit the sin.

* Fr. Jude illustrates with humour: an 86-yr-old nun was asked by a priest if she entertained fantasies and she quipped, "Oh, no, Father! They entertain me!"

* 613 commandments in the Old Testament; very strict way of living

* Freedom is not doing whatever we want, as we would become SLAVES to our passions.

* In living out our passions, thus doing wrong things to ourselves/others, we lack self-control, begin to hate ourselves, we begin to think and believe we are garbage and then act like animals. We are too precious and good to give ourselves away as if we are objects (this is primarily aimed at sex outside of marriage).


* Galatians 5 - virtues listed

* He mentioned the Hebraic and Aramaic languages limits, in that those languages don't really have big, bigger, biggest so they would say something that is bigger than big as big big. When something is said three times it denotes something seriously serious. So, when we say Holy, Holy, Holy - we are talking about GOD, Who is all-Holy.

* Joy is a sense of peace when we are where we should be - even in suffering (as an opportunity to offer up our suffering for someone else) - AND - happiness is defined as a feeling we get when we have a Krispie Kreme donut.

* There was an experiment done at a mall where the door was held open for people coming in and going out and it was 50 people before 1 turned around and said "thank you". What kind of unkind, untrusting world are we living in? (Shout out to you mid-westerners: he says some of you are the friendliest - the go out of your way kind - people in the U.S.).

* Are you grateful? - for even waking up today? If you are grateful, you are likely compassionate.

* There is a lot of surrender involved in living a virtuous life.

* He mentioned here about VEILS - that St. Paul was simply instructing the women in Corinth to veil since women who did not were prostitutes. (I will interject here, that I think there is more to this story - chime in on the comments those of you who have anything to say, additionally or otherwise about veiling).

* Fasting - Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the only fasting days; Abstinence is on Friday's during Lent - but recommended all year. The important thing to remember about this practice is: simple meals (very simple - mashed potatoes, soup, light fair) and avoiding meat. I love this bit: fasting and abstaining distances us from food - a respectable distance - and keeps food and the consuming of it in perspective and proper balance. You will feel hungry; it is not comfortable - but you will be in solidarity with Christ and those others who we offer up our suffering for.

* Exercise patience - recognize we are ALL broken. Ask yourself, "What's the rush?" Believe and live the words "God willing".

* Here's another story he shared: There was a family eating at a fine restaurant. Everyone had ordered except the young son. The waitress leaned in and asked him, "What would you like, sir?" He ordered a hot dog. The mother chimed in that he would have roast, vegetables and mashed potatoes. This was not a restaurant for street vendor foods. The waitress smiled at the boy and asked, "Do you want katsup or mustard on your hot dog?" He said both and then quipped as she walked away to fill their order, "She thinks I'm real!"

* Another story: A father has two sons. One is a pessimist, the other an optimist. The father decides to see just how far their attitudes went so he gave his pessimist son a Rolex watch. The boy opened it up, and said, "I was hoping for plastic." The other son, he gave a large crate of horse manure. He found this son digging around in the manure and so he asked his son if he liked his gift, to which the son replied, "I love it dad! I know there's a pony in here somewhere!"

* Love is recognizing another person is as broken as I am. For example, there was a woman who complained to her priest about her uncle's weakness for sleeping around and gambling - that he had no self-control. She then confessed her weakness for food - that she was helpless around it. The Priest said, "Oh, so it's the same as your uncle!" She then realized she was in the same position of weakness and brokenness as her uncle, although differently in the abuse of it, and wept copiously.

* 1 Thess. - never degrade your marital partner; if you aren't married, it's just theory. Here he was talking about sex outside of marriage being "theory" - I kind of lost words on how to tell what he was saying - just that - outside of marriage, sex wreaks havoc on everyone.

* Generosity - enough to share, do what you can, find a balance to give w/out going under yourself, give of your time (listen to the boring stories, call your mom or MIL, bear with the slow talkers), and notice the lonely!

* Kindness - is it true? is it kind? is it helpful? use this to measure if what you say is gossip.
* People are not opponents, but opportunities to be kind

* Commit ourselves to the slow progress of living the virtues! It's a worthy struggle to do the right thing when offering our suffering for another. If in error, love them into healing.