• 10 articles

Selfless Self-Preservation

Lent is a time where the virtue of temperance gets lots of nods.  Philosopher Josef Pieper called temperance “selfless self-denial.”  This formulation helps us understand this virtue, because many people can be said to have denied themselves comfort or ease for the sake of something, but looking deeper that “something” is very o...

03 16 2021

Be Master or Get Mastered

Nobody likes a person, especially a man, who just agrees to everything and goes with the flow, because that flow will typically by along the lines of whim, impulse, and sin – he’s a “yes man” not just to another man, but to everything. If you say ‘yes’ to everyone and everything you are not free and you are not really your own person. Y...

03 20 2020

Virtues Are Not Limited To A Time And A Place

“A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions.”   (CCC 1803) There is nothing more that I desire ...

01 08 2020

Key Virtues in Overcoming Porn Use

Paul was very discouraged when he came in to his counseling session.  He had fallen again into pornography use and masturbation.  He felt he would never overcome this vice in spite of the progress he had made.  When he began recovery, he was viewing porn and masturbating daily.  Now he was falling into it about once a month.  His hopelessness ...

05 22 2019

Cactus to Clouds, Pushing it and Brotherhood

By: Leo Gallegos “Every day that passes, I fall more desperately in love with the mountains… I am ever more determined to climb the mountains, to scale the mighty peaks, to feel that pure joy which can only be felt in the mountains.” Bl. Pier Gorgio Frassati. As we embrace the season of Lent, I am reminded of one of my favorite hiking trips...

03 12 2019

Can Good Leaders Afford to be Patient with Underperforming Team Members?

I recently read an article about patience in the workplace. The author argues that patience is not really a virtue or, at best, it is a ”minor” virtue because it is not one of the theological or cardinal virtues. The author says that consumer impatience is good because it forces the market to create better products and services. He also says th...

08 29 2018

A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land Is a Way to Enhance the Virtues

If you're on the fence about a visit to the Holy Land, or if you've gone sometime in the past, here's some of the great benefits of a pilgrimage to the land of the Bible. When I went recently, our spiritual guide and priest, Fr. Benedict, said that we take a pilgrimage to grow in our faith; however, he added in his homily, it is also designed to...

07 04 2018

Perfection in Practice: Failure, Sports, and Overcoming Failure

“Practice makes Perfect.” We have all heard this saying growing up, but have we really taken the time to stop and think about what it means? Perfection is when something is done without error. Another word for perfection is excellence, and this is something we all strive for. We all have a desire to be excellent because we long to return to our...

06 07 2018

Virtue at Work: Promoting Justice in the Workplace

Justice is generally best known by its counterpart – injustice. Justice has been defined as giving everyone their due or using strengths as a means to provide for the betterment of those who are marginalized or vulnerable. Many might label as fair, honest or upholding integrity. Again, justice tends to be exemplified when it is most absent. ...

05 02 2018

Is “Liberty as License” Conservative?

Freedom, as you well know, is at the very heart of the American experiment.  As (more or less) a man “of conservative impulse”—to use the words of Russell Kirk—this central fact of our American political system is of great importance to me.  Moreover, as I have watched freedom come under attack in our nation, I have awakened more and more...

04 26 2018

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