HENRITZE: Virtue - Seeking and doing what is good
May 28, 2019
From my early years, I was being trained in virtues and didn’t even realize it.
My parents enrolled my brothers and me in the Cub Scouts program each at the age of six. The motto of Cub Scouts is: “Do a good turn daily.” In fact, my parents would often ask us, did you do a good turn today? Thanks to their insight and wisdom my brothers and I grew up steeped in a culture of natural virtue, although no scout meeting I recall worded it in such a way.
One of my greatest desires is to be a man who seeks goodness in all that I do. I do not want to be seen as a good man or to have others think that I’m a good man. I want to truly and authentically seek to do that which is good, regardless of how those around me perceive my actions. This type of life is only possible through virtue.
Most dictionaries define virtue as behaving in a moral or upright way and often list goodness among the primary synonyms. These definitions, however, are lacking an edge of truth.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1803, provides a definition of virtue that fills in the holes which secular lexicons leave; it states: “A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1803, provides a definition of virtue that fills in the holes which secular lexicons leave; it states: “A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good.”
To possess a virtue is not to be good, but to seek to do that which is good.
Many dictionaries define the word “good” as either an adjective, an attribute or a quality one has, or as a noun, used to identify what someone is. Yet in the Catechism, the word good is described as a verb, it is something one does.
One of my favorite childhood TV shows was “Boy Meets World.” The show depicts a young boy and his friends as they advance through middle school, high school and college. Every year their teacher, Mr. Feeny, mysteriously progressed up with them and weekly imparted a valuable life lesson. In the last episode of the series, all the characters are gathered together as life gets ready to separate these childhood friends; it’s a true tear-jerking moment.
Mr. Feeny’s last words to the class are: “Go out and do good.” One of them speaks up and asks, “Don’t you mean do well?”
To which Mr. Feeny responds, “No, I mean do good.”
Possessing virtue enables you to do what is good and spurs us to give the best of ourselves in the effort to do so. A virtuous person does what is good because it is good, not out of a selfish desire to receive recognition or reward. Men and women of virtue expect nothing in return for living a virtuous life.
Do we as Christians authentically seek to live this way? Are we trying to do the good simply because it is good, or do we hope to get something out of it? There are numerous lists of virtues out there. I encourage you to do a quick Internet search for them and find one that you know you need to grow in, not for the sake of bettering yourself, but for the purpose of doing that which is good.
Brian Henritze is an associate director with the Archdiocesan Office of Adolescent Catechesis and Evangelization.