|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
We Catholics have a lot of sets of spiritual things.
The 10 Commandments
The 3 Theological Virtues
The 4 Cardinal Virtues
The 8 Beatitudes
(Hope you’re studying—there’s a quiz at the end.)
The 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit
The 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit
The 7 Corporal Works of Mercy
The 7 Spiritual Works of Mercy
(Seriously, there’s a quiz, study up!)
The 7 Deadly Sins
And the proximate topic of this article, The 7 Lively Virtues.
I say “proximate” because this article isn’t so much about them as it is of the absence of them. Let me explain.
The 7 Lively Virtues are the antidote to the 7 Deadly Sins. So,
Humility > Pride
Generosity > Greed
Chastity > Lust
Patience > Anger
Temperance > Gluttony
Kindness > Envy
Diligence > Sloth
I wrote about these already a while back.
Everyone can agree that those lively virtues are what we should be shooting for. Here’s the thing: these are the “middle” pathway to holiness. That means that if the 7 Deadly Sins are one extreme away from the virtues, there must be another extreme into which our souls can fall out of holiness.
Extreme 1 ← Middle → Extreme 2
We’ll call these the Other 7 Deadly Extremes (cool title for an article, right?).
Let’s swing this pendulum to the other side of spiritual insanity, shall we?
Self-hatred < Humility > Pride
Pride is the center of every sin. But self-hatred is the effect of every sin. It doesn’t take much for a Christian with a decently formed conscience to fall into this extreme to pride. The guilt we feel is a slippery slope—we need to feel it in order to repent, but when we give up hope, we become the accuser constantly calling ourselves out for our imperfections. This is no way to live. Humility helps us overcome pride, yes, but it also reminds us that we shouldn’t be our worst enemies, that we are worthy sons and daughters of God.
Wastefulness < Generosity > Greed
We waste a lot of things—time, energy, food, resources, money, etc. Interestingly enough, we still want more. The idea of “having just enough” is worrisome to us; we want abundance and security…we want it all. That’s greed. And again, the effect of this deadly sin is not correctly dealing with the blessing of excess goods. While generosity provides the proper means of keeping greed in check, it also gives us a means of dealing out our “extra” to those who need it more.
Unapproachability < Chastity > Lust
To be prudish might be what you first think of when considering the opposite extreme to lust, but I’d like to extend the definition to include not just the closing off of physical affection, but the closed mind as well. Chastity breaks through these walls. It is the director of intimacy. It reaches out to the unapproachable and wills that each person be treated with the dignity and purity of God Himself.
Indecision < Patience > Anger
The indecisive person lives in constant fear of the consequences of their actions and inactions. An angry person, on the other hand, has zero worry when it comes to the consequences of their actions—they act on pure emotion. Both extremes lack the ability to use their reasoning skills properly. A patient person, however, knows exactly how to keep their emotions in check as well as their fears. The patient let God reveal to them the correct choice to make. Only those who are willing to wait and trust in Jesus can overcome anger and indecision.
Malnourishment < Temperance > Gluttony
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “About 1 in 3 adults—and even more adolescents—don’t get enough sleep.” That’s malnourishment.
The World Bank Group, an organization dedicated to tracking food security worldwide, states that “more than 87 million people are facing hunger in East and Southern Africa, and 52 million are projected to be acutely food insecure in West and Central Africa by mid-2026.” That’s malnourishment.
According to the National Institute of Health, “More than 2 in 5 adults (42.4%) have obesity.” That’s gluttony.
God gave us the job of caring for our bodies like the temples of the Holy Spirit that they are, but also to tend the land and exercise dominion over the beasts of the world thus providing for one another the resources needed to survive. Consuming too much or too little are not options for the Catholic Christian. Only temperance will do.
Carelessness < Kindness > Envy
While envy still exists today, the opposite extreme of carelessness has become more pronounced. We keep to ourselves more because we’re on our devices more. This keeps us from seeing the beggar on the streets that we no longer pass because we’re working from home. The avoidance of real-world exposure also thwarts our ability to communicate face to face, our resolve to work with others through difficult circumstances, and our presence with one another as a community.
Kindness takes the envious and the careless and unites them in the common thread of love. It creates community. And when there’s love, there’s desire to experience that love in reality.
Over working < Diligence > Sloth
Are you noticing a trend with these extremes? They make the middle path look like the only means to achieve holiness. Sloth is so lazy that it pushes the conscience to consider working harder to achieve peace. At the same time, overworking stresses us out so much that our souls start begging for a breather that might lead to peace. Diligence, then, balances the two extremes and keeps us grounded in our workload. Yes, we must work, but we also must rest.
| Pride | Humility | Self-hatred |
| Greed | Generosity | Wastefulness |
| Lust | Chastity | Unapproachability |
| Anger | Patience | Indecisiveness |
| Gluttony | Temperance | Malnourishment |
| Envy | Kindness | Carelessness |
| Sloth | Diligence | Over working |
I know I’m just adding to the already stifling pile of numerical Catholic doctrines, but I feel that these Other 7 Deadly Extremes must be called out because they have spent too long lurking in the depths of our unconscious. Identifying them gives us the spiritual insight to veer off these gutters and onto the lane of the middle way.
If we roll our spiritual bowling balls right, we might just curve them into a holy strike.
Author’s Note: Remember that quiz I promised? Click here and good luck!
Photo by Loic Leray on Unsplash
