Monday, June 04, 2007

Live the Life of Ease

I have been reading through Part Three, Section One of the Catechism, and today came across paragraph 1804. Check this out (bolding mine):

1804 Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.
The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.
Imagine that! It's not the brand of cleaner I buy that makes me smile when I clean my toilet! It's is choosing to do it out of a virtuous heart.

So, I gather from this that the only people who truly are joyful and truly have life easy are those who have put in the hard work to gain virtue.

Surely that means I'm not the only one who finds joy elusive!

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