The Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Virtues

Thomas Merton once described a holy person as one who is "quiet, simple, humble, and direct." This summarizes for me a life that eschews the seven deadly sins and which cultivates the seven virtues. It is a beautiful life, one which is worthy of being pursued with vigor. This is a highly appropriate reflection for the period of mystagogical catechesis which is the Great Fifty Days.

Here is an outline of these traditional categories in Christian moral thought, with some of my own brief explanatory notes:

The Seven Deadly Sins

1. Pride - arrogance, boastfulness, expecting (closely linked with anger)
2. Covetousness - greed, taking (linked with envy)
3. Lust - obsession, demanding, grasping (linked with gluttony)
4. Envy - greed, discontent, craving
5. Gluttony - indulgence, immoderate, consuming, devouring
6. Anger - bitterness, resentment, fearing (fear gives birth to anger)
7. Sloth - laziness, unmotivated, disengaged, withdrawn, lack of vision

The Seven Virtues

1. Faith - confidence, trusting (closely linked with hope)
2. Hope - assurance, perspective, seeing (hope grows out of clear vision)
3. Love - commitment, focus, giving (closely linked with fortitude)
4. Justice - fairness, impartiality, compassion 
5. Prudence - discernment, wisdom (linked with temperance)
6. Temperance - calmness, self-control, moderation
7. Fortitude - perseverance, diligence, determination 

If you keep these characteristics in mind when you study the great teaching on the hillside by our Lord Jesus (The Gospel of Matthew 5-7), you can see how his teachings clearly connect here and how these categories help to dscribe the eternal kind of life into which he brings us when we trust in him.