CMW-WB-CH15

UNIT 6 CHAPTER 15 

The 

Life-Giving 

Virtues 

332

Chapter 15 Overview 

Virtue is moral excellence, or the habit of doing good. Our habits are in-built attitudes that give rise to spontaneous 

responses and behaviors. Through the natural virtues of prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, 

we become free to act for the ultimate goals of goodness and the Kingdom of God. The natural virtues 

also help us recognize and resist temptation, overcome obstacles, and remain steadfast in the face of fear 

and danger. The natural virtues, however, are not enough on their own. They must be transformed by the supernatural 

virtues of faith, hope, and love to reach a much higher, graced level. 

In this chapter you will learn that … 

■ Virtue is moral excellence, or the habit of doing good. 

■ There are two kinds of virtues: the natural virtues and the supernatural virtues. 

■ Prudence seeks to know the good in itself and helps us discern what is truly good. 

■ Temperance helps us discipline our passions and moderate our ego. 

■ Fortitude helps us contend with our fears and discouragement productively. 

■ Jesus revealed love to be the highest good and goal of all the virtues and commandments. 

■ The supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love transform and perfect the natural virtues. 

Bible Basics 

I have fought the good fight, I have finished 

the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth 

there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, 

which the Lord, the righteous judge, will 

award to me on that Day, and not only to me 

but also to all who have loved his appearing. 

— 2 Timothy 4:7–8 

“[W]hoever would be great among you must 

be your servant, and whoever would be first 

among you must be your slave; even as the 

Son of man came not to be served but to 

serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

— Matthew 20:26–28 

Connections to the Catechism 

■ CCC 981 

■ CCC 1805–1806 

■ CCC 1808–1809 

■ CCC 1835 

■ CCC 1837–1838 

■ CCC 1844 

■ CCC 2055 

■ CCC 2290 

■ CCC 2341 

■ CCC 2546 

© Sophia Institute for Teachers 

333

Chapter 15 

Aa 

VOCABULARY 

Natural Virtues: Four virtues 

acquired through our own 

effort that play a pivotal role in 

the exercise of other virtues. 

They are the fruit and seed 

of morally good acts and 

help prepare the powers of 

human beings for communion 

with God’s love. They are 

prudence, justice, fortitude, 

and temperance. Also called 

Cardinal Virtues or moral 

virtues. 

Supernatural Virtues: Gifts 

infused by God into the 

souls of the faithful to make 

them capable of acting as 

His children and of meriting 

eternal life. They are faith, 

hope, and charity (or love). 

Also called theological virtues. 

The Natural and Supernatural Virtues 

Together with the Sacraments (particularly the Holy Eucharist and the 

Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation) and a life of prayer, cultivating 

virtue in our lives is a powerful weapon in our arsenal for contending 

with sin and the evil spirit. 

Prized by generations of theologians and pre-Christian classical 

philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, virtue is essentially 

moral excellence, or the habit of doing good. Habits are in-built attitudes 

that give rise to spontaneous responses and behaviors — behaviors 

that we do not have to think about before we do them. They come 

out of the virtuous naturally, which is why the ancients called them second 

nature. 

There are two kinds of virtues: the natural virtues and the 

supernatural virtues. The natural virtues are: 

■ Prudence: Knowledge of the good and how to act on the good in 

particular situations. 

■ Justice: The will or desire to give others what is owed to them by 

nature and contract. 

■ Temperance: Self-control regarding discipline or moderation of our 

passions and feelings. 

■ Fortitude: The courage to face adversity and to struggle for the 

good amidst challenges. 

The supernatural virtues are faith, hope, and love. We have implicitly 

discussed faith and hope in Chapters 1–4 and have examined love, 

particularly Jesus’ prioritization and definition of it, in Chapters 1 and 2. 

We will look again at this highest virtue and its sub-virtues later in this 

chapter. But first, we will probe more deeply into the four natural virtues, 

examine their necessity for love, and then explore how we can develop 

and use them in our lives. We will not specifically address justice 

here because it is implicitly contained in the treatment of love. Thus, our 

consideration of the natural virtues will focus on prudence, temperance, 

and fortitude. 

334 Apologetics II: Challenges of the Modern World 

© Magis Center

The virtues should be 

continually cultivated in life. 

Prudence: A natural virtue 

that helps us discern what is 

good and then choose the 

correct means to accomplish 

it. It is the “charioteer of the 

virtues,” right reason in action. 

The First Natural Virtue: Prudence 

Prudence is a special kind of knowledge aimed at knowing the good 

and how to achieve it. Beyond knowledge of the world around us or of 

universal truths, prudence seeks to know the good in itself and what is 

good for us. Thus, to understand prudence, we must turn toward conscience 

and divine revelation. These two sources sometimes overlap 

and complement each other. As we have learned, conscience is the 

gift God gave human beings to be able to use reason in order to judge 

right from wrong. It is God’s voice in our hearts that helps us choose the 

good and avoid evil. When we act in conformity with our conscience, 

we feel noble — particularly if we exert effort or struggle to act rightly. 

Conversely, when we act against our conscience, we feel a sense of 

guilt and self-alienation (shame). 

Four Cardinal Virtues by Friar Laurent (ca. 1290–1300) 

[C]onscience 

is the gift God 

gave human 

beings to be 

able to use 

reason in order 

to judge right 

from wrong. 

© Sophia Institute for Teachers Unit 6, Chapter 15: The Life-Giving Virtues 

335

The great Christian writer C.S. Lewis suggested eight major principles 

of conscience that most major religions and cultures agree upon: 

1. To respect, worship, and gain knowledge of the Sacred Creator 

(God) and to follow His will and law. 

2. To respect and take care of one’s family and to avoid dishonoring 

it. 

3. To refrain from killing an innocent person or harming him in his 

person, property, or reputation. 

4. To refrain from adultery — breaking the marriage covenant. 

5. To refrain from stealing another’s property. 

6. To refrain from cheating (acting unjustly against established 

rules). 

It is not enough to know the 

good, we must put the good 

into practice. 

7. To refrain from lying in all its forms — bearing false witness against 

one’s neighbor, claiming credit for what is not due to you, not 

taking responsibility for misdeeds. 

8. To help others who are disadvantaged or in need by using one’s 

available time and resources. 

People of the Soil by Edwin Boyd Johnson (ca. 1938–1939). 


© Magis Center

Given that these eight principles overlap with the teachings of 

many religions, we might say that conscience and the practice of religion 

complement and reinforce one another. The prudent person not 

only knows these eight principles, but he also has an awareness of their 

goodness and origin in God, which causes him to love them. This love 

of principles inspires him to form and follow his conscience so that he 

can act rightly even in complex and difficult situations. 

There are two aspects of prudence: first, the love of virtue coming 

from the dictates of conscience and love of God, and second, the 

knowledge of how to best act on the good in particular situations. 

The two sources of our knowledge of the good — conscience and 

divine revelation — are complementary. As we have learned, each of 

us has an interior sense of the transcendent, spiritual, and divine that 

moves us to seek the sacred in the world around us. It follows, then, that 

the more we grow in knowledge and love of God, the more we grow in 

love of His sacred will and commands. 

Thus, if we want to grow in the first aspect of prudence, we should 

take steps not only to form our conscience by studying the virtues 

and eight principles in philosophy, literature, and life experience, but 

also to develop our relationship with God through the Sacraments, 

prayer, and the study of His precepts, which are given by Scripture and 

the Church. The more we engage in these two disciplines, the more 

we will grow in prudence — the understanding, desire, and practice of 

the good and all the virtues. 

It is not enough, however, to simply know the good. We must also 

put the good into practice. When the prudent person sees a need or an 

opportunity to do the good, he is moved do something about it. Acting 

out on this desire requires setting goals to achieve either a partial or full 

solution. Without goals, the best intentions go nowhere. To ensure that 

our goals to do good actually come to fruition, we also need to create 

a plan to accomplish our goals. Creating a plan often requires learning 

who to consult and how to do the research to get the necessary tasks 

done effectively. Once we have the steps to our goal laid out, we then 

must commit the time to completing them. If we discipline ourselves 

to begin quickly, acting immediately on doing the good will eventually 

become habitual. We will naturally move promptly into action, expedite 

steps, and accomplish much in life. 

[I]f we want 

to grow in the 

first aspect of 

prudence, we 

should take 

steps not only 

to form our 

conscience ... 

but also develop 

our relationship 

with God ... 

and study His 

precepts given 

by Scripture and 

the Church. 

St. Thomas Aquinas called prudence the first and most important 

of the natural virtues. Without the first aspect of prudence, we would be 


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Detachment: 

Disconnectedness or removal 

from worldly concerns and 

temptations in order to focus 

on things that truly matter. 

hazy about the good to accomplish and evil to be avoided, and this confusion 

renders us powerless to do the good. Without the second aspect 

of prudence, we might know what we should do, but we would not have 

the skills and discipline to do the good or defeat the evil. When both aspects 

of prudence are present, there is no stopping us. We will be forces 

for good and the Kingdom of God — forces to defeat evil and injustice. 

The Second Natural Virtue: Temperance 

Prudence leads us to the point of promptly moving our first steps into 

action, but now we face the challenge of finishing the course — of getting 

to the goal. Two things can really stand in the way of accomplishing 

our goal: 

■ Allowing our passions and ego to get in the way. 

■ Becoming fearful or discouraged when we meet obstacles to our goal. 

As we grow in 

love of God and 

refinement of 

conscience, we 

open ourselves 

to God’s 

presence and 

grace as well as 

the persuasions 

of conscience. 

The virtues of temperance and fortitude are important complements 

to prudence to help us combat these potential obstacles. 

Temperance is the virtue of disciplining or moderating our passions and 

ego. Temperance requires self-control. Fortitude is the virtue or discipline 

of productively contending with fear and discouragement. Let us 

first consider the virtue of temperance and then the virtue of fortitude. 

Psychologists would say there are two dimensions of our selves — a 

rational-prudent dimension and a base egotistical dimension. It is not 

enough for us to cultivate prudence through forming and following 

conscience and being in close relationship with God. We must also have 

the capacity to say “no” to our base and egotistical self. If we are incapable 

of saying “no” and allowing the prudent self to reign, we are likely 

to suffer a sad fate and never reach our goals. 

How do we develop temperance? First, we must develop the virtue 

of prudence through the formation of conscience and a relationship 

with God. As we grow in love of God and refinement of conscience, we 

open ourselves to God’s presence and grace as well as the persuasions 

of conscience. 

Secondly, when temptation inevitably comes, we must learn to 

resist it. To do so, we must first and foremost turn to prayer to bring 

the presence and grace of God into our struggle with temptation. We 

should also practice indifference to the temptation. For example, if we 

are tempted by anger, we might tell ourselves and God, “I could care 

less about what this person did to me — it is not a matter of great concern.” 

Indifference leads to detachment, the enemy of temptation. 


© Magis Center

Some spiritual writers also recommend thinking about the negative 

consequences of acting on the temptation to sin, such as the risk to our 

salvation, the harm we would be doing to others, and the harm to ourselves, 

so that we might fear acting on the temptation. This fear, like 

indifference, causes us to detach from the temptation, which weakens 

its effect over us. When indifference to temptation and fear of the consequences 

of sin are combined, we have a significantly increased opportunity 

to disengage from temptation. 

Fasting is another method long recommended by the Church (and 

practiced by Our Lord Himself) to resist temptation. It is linked with 

prayer many times in the Bible. By being able to say “no” to our hunger 

in the name of God or another good, we practice being in control of 

ourselves. We remind our belly, the traditional location of the passions, 

that our head (the intellect) is in control and directing our will. Fasting is 

a powerful weapon against Satan, and a necessary one. St. Gregory the 

Great wrote, “It is impossible to engage in spiritual combat, without the 

previous subjugation of the appetite.” 

As we practice these techniques, we become more adept at recognizing 

and opposing temptation almost immediately after it starts. The 

more quickly we resist temptation, the less powerful it will be, making it 

easier to defeat. Further, the more we quickly respond to temptation, 

the more we will develop a track record of successful resistance and 

build a habit of resistance. 

Fasting: Voluntarily going 

without food for a certain 

time. Along with prayer, fasting 

can strengthen us against 

sinful temptations. On Ash 

Wednesday and Good Friday, 

the Church requires healthy 

adults to fast, defined as 

eating no more than one full 

meal and two smaller meals 

that together do not equal 

one meal on those days. 

We must first and foremost 

turn to prayer. 

Conversion of St. Augustine by Fra Angelico (ca. 1430–1435). 


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The Third Natural Virtue: Fortitude (Courage) 

As opposed to temperance, which resists excessive or evil passions, fortitude 

encourages good initiatives. Most philosophers say that fear and 

lack of resolve stop us from actualizing our good intentions. Fortitude, 

then, is the virtue of contending with fear (courage) and developing resolve 

to actualize good intentions. 

Most of us have experienced how debilitating fear can be. Perhaps 

there was a time when we could have done some good, like standing 

up for a classmate who was being made fun of, but did nothing out of 

fear of being ridiculed or rejected. Fear of loss of esteem, failure, injury, 

loss of status, ridicule, and the like brings so many of our best intentions 

to nothing. As the philosopher Edmund Burke noted, “The only thing 

necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” It is 

for this reason the ancient philosophers placed so much emphasis on 

courage and fortitude. 

How can we develop courage? Three techniques can help: 

1. Use spontaneous prayers to invite God’s grace into the situation 

to help alleviate fear. 

2. Be rational. When a sense of panic begins to arise, think about 

questions that will help deal with the situation, such as, “What 

is the worst thing that can happen, and how can I lessen it?” 

or “Who can I consult for help?” As we ask and answer these 

questions, we get a sense of rational control, which brings our 

fear level down considerably. 

3. Reach out to experts and friends for help. 

Fortitude helps us not to lose 

heart. 

The Repentance of St. Peter by Johannes Moreelse (ca. 1630). 


© Magis Center

The truly courageous person does not rush headlong into danger 

but rather is prayerful and rational in making deliberate choices to contend 

with the challenge. When we practice these three techniques, fear 

naturally subsides, which makes us free to do what we need to do. 

As we have seen, many of our best intentions are not reducible to 

a single short-term action. They have multiple steps extended over 

time that may require significant effort. They may require us to struggle 

through many obstacles. As with temperance, prudence is the foundation 

on which fortitude is built. When we see a need and opportunity to 

do the good (or defeat evil), prudence can help us recognize our part in 

bringing that good to reality. It can also help us to form form goals and 

plans, do research, and initiate actions. Fortitude is the habit of maintaining 

our effort and enthusiasm to bring the good to reality over the 

course of time and the habit of believing in our ultimate success amidst 

protracted struggles and obstacles. The traditional location of the will is 

the heart. Fortitude helps us counteract the tendency to become discouraged 

or, as we often say, lose heart. 

How do we maintain our effort and enthusiasm and believe we will 

succeed? Four techniques will prove useful: 

1. Use spontaneous prayers to ask the Lord to give increased 

resolve to actualize a particular good or defeat a particular evil. 

2. Believe in the nobility of your cause. The more we recognize the 

nobility of our call, the less likely we will be to lose enthusiasm 

for the effort and the more our hearts will be disposed to work 

and struggle over the long term. 

3. Believe in ultimate success amidst challenges, obstacles, and 

struggles. If we say to ourselves, “I will never succeed,” it will 

become a self-fulfilling prophecy, almost guaranteeing that we 

will lose our enthusiasm and energy. If we say, however, “I will be 

able to succeed, by the grace of God, if I am creative and patient 

enough in dealing with these obstacles,” it will similarly most 

likely lead to success. 

Fortitude is 

the habit of 

maintaining 

our effort and 

enthusiasm to 

bring the good 

to reality over 

the course 

of time and 

the habit of 

believing in 

our ultimate 

success amidst 

protracted 

struggles and 

obstacles. 

4. Stop looking only at the finish line. When we are only focused 

on the finish line, the end seems to never come fast enough, 

which discourages us and undermines our enthusiasm. What 

we really need to do is think about the next steps, because if 

we can complete those, and then the next steps, and so on, we 

will ultimately come to the finish line by simply believing in the 

nobility of our cause and the probability of our success. 


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Beatitudes: Eight ways of 

living Jesus taught at the 

Sermon on the Mount that will 

lead us to perfect happiness 

and fulfillment, which we 

ultimately find with God in 

Heaven. 

[P]rudence is 

oriented toward 

the good as 

recognized by 

the dictates of 

conscience and 

divine revelation. 

The Virtue of Love 

When we build a strong foundation of natural virtue, particularly the virtues 

of prudence, temperance, and fortitude, we become free to act for 

the ultimate goals of goodness and the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, 

the natural virtues help us recognize and resist temptation, overcome 

obstacles, and remain steadfast in the face of fear and danger. The natural 

virtues, however, are not enough on their own. They must be transformed 

by the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love to reach a 

much higher, graced level. 

As we have seen, without faith and prayer, the natural virtues 

emerge as weak in comparison to their transformation through grace. 

Hope in eternal life also transforms the natural virtues. When we have 

a sure hope in the resurrection, prudence is no longer oriented toward 

this life alone but toward eternal life. Additionally, hope gives temperance 

a whole new significance because we are not only resisting evil and 

temptation until death but rather for the sake of the Kingdom, which 

lasts forever. When we resist evil in this world, we not only help ourselves 

but many others into the Kingdom of Heaven. Furthermore, when we 

seek to do the good not only for the sake of this world but also for the 

Kingdom of God, it increases our motivation and sense of nobility, which 

increases our enthusiasm and energy to finish our good works amidst 

struggles and obstacles. As St. Paul declared, “I have fought the good 

fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth 

there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 

the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to 

me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7–8). 

We now come to the supernatural virtue of love. How does love 

enhance the natural virtues to bring them and us to our highest perfection? 

As we have seen, prudence is oriented toward the good as 

recognized by the dictates of conscience and divine revelation. Also, 

as we have learned (see Unit 1), Jesus Christ (the highest point of 

divine revelation — the Son of God Himself) has declared love to be 

the highest good — the good to which all other virtues and commandments 

are oriented and the good that reflects the very heart of the 

Father. Thus, Jesus’ revelation of the essence of love (agapē) and His 

gift of the Holy Spirit to inspire it within us bring prudence’s objective 

of the good to perfection. 

Jesus transformed the notion of love not only by making it the highest 

commandment but by explaining it through the Beatitudes — the 

interior attitudes from which true love springs (see Matthew 5:3–11). 


© Magis Center

Alms (Study for the picture Poor) by Josef Hanula (1894). 

Because Jesus’ idea of love is so rich and multifaceted, the early Church 

Fathers were led to create a set of eight sub-virtues of love that capture 

the different aspects of Jesus’ highest virtue: 

Jesus asks us to be generous. 

1. Contribution/generosity 

2. Gratitude 

3. Care for others 

4. Humble-heartedness 

5. Gentle-heartedness 

6. Compassion 

7. Forgiveness 

8. Chastity 

Let us look now at each of these in turn. 

Contribution/Generosity 

Jesus exhorts us to give to the poor, to be a servant, to help the needy, 

and to spread the Faith. In other words, be generous. We have learned 

that the third level of happiness, contributive-empathetic happiness, 

refocuses our lives away from sensuality and materialism and ego-centric 

comparisons (levels 1 and 2 happiness). The more we contribute, 

the greater our positive effect on others, the community, the Kingdom 

of God, and the culture. These contributions, rather than depleting us, 

fulfill us. Jesus tells us that whoever wishes to be great must be a servant 

to others (Matthew 20:26), implying that true greatness is perfection 

in love, and perfection in love is service and generosity to others. 

Jesus exhorts 

us to give to the 

poor, to be a 

servant, to help 

the needy, and 

to spread the 

faith. 


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Christ lends us the ultimate 

example. 

Christ Washing the Apostles’ Feet by Dirck van Baburen (ca. 1616). 

Gratitude 

Gratitude is not only the key to virtue but also to happiness and prayer. 

The grateful person who takes nothing for granted sees his life as a 

blessing from God and others. The ungrateful person, however, is continually 

tormented by what he does not have, consumed by resentment, 

anger, and envy. The former cannot help but be happy while the 

latter consigns himself and others around him to misery. 

Jesus asks us to give thanks to God and calls the sacrificial offering 

of His own Body and Blood Eucharist, which means “thanksgiving.” The 

saints have taught us to take nothing for granted but rather to recognize 

God’s blessing and to give thanks. When we show someone gratitude, 

we are not only recognizing the love extended to us but also expressing 

our love for the gift they have given us. In a very real way, the 

spiritual life begins with gratitude — it is our most fundamental expression 

of love. 

Care for Others 

This sub-virtue of love arises out of our natural power and desire for 

empathy. We can switch on this natural power and desire by simply 

looking for the good in others. When we look for the good in others, 

we put the bad within the context of the unique goodness and lovability 

of the other, which prevents the bad from controlling our feelings 


© Magis Center

about them. Then, empathy and respect for the person begins to naturally 

arise. Empathy goes further; it seeks to do the good for others not 

only out of a sense of duty but as a loving gift of self that brings joy and 

fulfillment in spirit. When we genuinely care about others, their welfare 

becomes connected to our own; their joy becomes our joy. 

Humble-heartedness 

Humble-heartedness (the first Beatitude) in the Christian context is 

the conviction that every person is uniquely and equally good, worthy, 

lovable, and transcendent before God, who created each of us with a 

unique, transcendent, and eternal soul. Though we are transcendent 

creatures wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) in the very image and likeness 

of God (Genesis 1:27), we are not God. We cannot attempt to be 

God for anyone, including ourselves. Thus, we should not see ourselves 

as superior to others. God alone is superior, and all of us share the same 

common characteristics of creatures called to fulfillment in Him. 

Gentle-heartedness 

Gentle-heartedness (the third Beatitude, “meekness”), like humble-heartedness, 

begins with empathy coming from looking for the 

good in others. Distinct from humble-heartedness, gentle-heartedness 

affirms the goodness and lovability of others in their weakness and fallibility, 

while humble-heartedness affirms the truth about oneself in relation 

to God and others. 

[G]entleheartedness 

affirms the 

goodness and 

lovability of 

others in their 

weakness 

and fallibility, 

while humbleheartedness 

affirms the truth 

about oneself in 

relation to God 

and others. 

Gentle-heartedness goes beyond looking for the good in others. It 

is a sublime expression of love because it continually attempts to put 

ourselves in the shoes of others and to see them through the unconditionally 

loving eyes of Jesus, who sees everyone’s unique goodness 

and lovability even when our behaviors suggest sin, selfishness, impiousness, 

and darkness. 

Compassion 

Compassion builds on care, humble-heartedness, and gentle-heartedness 

because it originates from empathy encouraged by looking for the 

good in others. Compassion differs from these other virtues because 

it arises out of the context of suffering (compassion means “to suffer 

with”). As we have seen, when we truly empathize with others, their welfare 

becomes connected to our own, so that even their suffering causes 

suffering within us. 


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Chasity: The true integration 

of sexuality within a person’s 

bodily and spiritual being. It 

includes an apprenticeship 

in self-mastery. Each of us is 

called to chastity. 

Jesus taught that compassion is the highest form of love, identifying 

it with the perfection of His Father’s love (Luke 6:36–38). As 

we have learned, this most difficult yet most perfect form of love has 

transformed the world. It has led the Catholic Church to start hospitals, 

schools, and public welfare organizations, take actions to mitigate 

the cruelties and slavery of Rome and beyond, and improved the lot of 

billions of people throughout history. The Catholic Church is, by a vast 

margin, the largest international educational and healthcare provider in 

the world. 

Forgiveness 

Jesus mentioned forgiveness more often than any other moral precept 

in the Gospels. Without forgiveness, we are left in a world where vengeance 

begets vengeance and violence begets violence. A world without 

forgiveness not only undermines families and friendships but also 

organizations and culture. Jesus models the ideal of forgiveness on His 

Father, showing us that radical forgiveness exemplifies the heart of His 

Father as revealed in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. 

We owe 

forgiveness to 

one another 

because we 

have already 

received and 

will continue to 

receive the far 

greater mercy 

of God. 

We owe forgiveness to one another because we have already received 

and will continue to receive the far greater mercy of God. If we 

deny others forgiveness, then God is justified in denying forgiveness 

to us. For Jesus, it is better to forgive others because we feel genuine 

concern and care for them than to forgive them out of mere compliance 

with God’s just command. Though it is good to obey God’s just 

commands, it is much better to imitate the heart of the Father by genuinely 

loving the person who has unjustly sinned against us. This love can 

be difficult. But if we pray to God and turn the offense and offender 

over to God, we free ourselves from the burden of exacting retribution, 

a goal that only stokes the fires of anger, bitterness, and resentment. 

Through prayer, we can begin the process of letting go of the just claim 

we have over the offender and truly forgive them. 

Chastity 

Chastity is related to the virtue of temperance. It is the moral virtue 

that helps us manage our desires for bodily and spiritual pleasure in the 

way God intended. It specifically involves self-mastery of our sexuality, 

keeping it in its proper place. It means we practice self-control by bringing 

the passions under the direction of our intellect. Christianity has always 

included chastity as one of the subsidiary virtues of love because 

violations of it result in unloving acts, the undermining of marriage and 


© Magis Center

Radical forgiveness is found 

in the Parable of the Prodigal 

Son. 

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt (ca. 1668). 

family, and the undermining of our spiritual life. Jesus’ conviction about 

the importance of this virtue is attested to by His teaching that even 

imagining illicit sexual relationships constitutes adultery of the heart 

and undermines our relationship with God and others (see Matthew 

5:27–28). As we learned in Units 3–5, the consequences of violating the 

virtue of chastity show why it is one of the most important virtues for 

an individual’s emotional, relational, and spiritual health as well as the 

well-being of marriage and family. 

Conclusion 

Almost every aspect of our culture encourages us to violate the teaching 

of Jesus regarding chastity by promising whole new levels of freedom 

and fulfillment. Unfortunately, however, it is a false promise on almost 

every level. If we look at the issue from the opposite perspective, 

we can see the benefits of chastity as Jesus defined it — significant increases 

in emotional health, relationships with others spiritual practice, 

and relationship with God, self-respect, respect for others, emotional 

intimacy within marriage, familial stability, marital satisfaction, security 

of children, and responsible contributive action within society. 


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