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 Sloth - laziness, unmotivated, disengaged, withdrawn, lack of vision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.

Post-Traumatic Growth: a framework for personal development

I have been thinking much lately about how change happens within individuals and within organizations. There is a growing field of study and thought in the world of psychology around the issue of Post-Traumatic Growth.

Most of us have heard of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This is a debilitating mental disorder that afflicts many. However, most people in fact survive experiences of trauma in their lives without the development of any mental disorders. And many attribute much personal growth to these experiences.

For me, this links to the idea of stress vs. anxiety. In order for change to occur, there must be stress. Depite the negative connotations given to this term in our society today, stress is not a negative. It is a force, a factor, that necessitates change. I would go further and suggest that stress is absolutely necessary in our lives. In every different area of our lives, the intentional application of stress is necessary in order for growth to occur. This is true in education, exercise, health, relationships, and also in our spiritual development. The idea of spiritual disciplines is precisely this: we practice something different, out of the ordinary, something intentionally uncomfortable, in order to push forward our growth.

However, anxiety is negative. Anxiety, as I see it, is the pre-determination of a negative outcome. Anxiety is one's disposition to expect the worst in any particular situation. As we know, the Lord Jesus taught us not to worry about anything (see Matthew 5:25-34), and the apostle St. Paul as well taught us not to be anxious (see Philippians 4:4-7). If we indeed live by faith in Christ, then we can accept each difficult situation as a growth scenario. This, I believe, is what St. Paul meant when he affirmed that "all things work together for good for those who love God" (Romans 8:28). God uses the stress of our lives to produce deep growth which bears fruit of an eternal variety, if we are willing participants in the process.

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength. C.H. Spurgeon