Introduction: The Virtues of a Holy Life

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. CCC #1804

I've been a blogger for a long time. The topic I always return to, and which probably annoys my readers, is speaking up. If you believe in something, stand for it because—the old cliché puts it best—if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. I can't think of a worst reason to fall than because you never had anything to hold onto for balance.

Here at Mary's Compass, we stand for the Truth—Jesus, and we get to know a lot about him from his mother. What we want more than anything from our ministry is to inspire readers to stand for worthwhile things. We want to teach young people—not just girls, even though the blog is admittedly very feminine in nature—the great satisfaction that comes from knowing the firm truth. You won't make it very far without an anchor, and what better anchor than Jesus?

We want to inspire the next generation of saints and speakers. If we don't pass a message of hope onto our own generation, how will the one after know hope at all? We believe there's a better path--it's just that this path looks different for everyone. We all fight our own battles, each stage of life involving unique struggle. However, the Narrow Path always consists of a mortal soul aspiring for traits that make them holier. It involves blood, sweat, and tears--which is why people tend to avoid the Narrow Path; they think it's a really bad thing, and that those following said path only want to inflict more suffering on themselves than necessary.

(Those traits can be found in the Beatitudes and in the Virtues as taught in the Catechism.)

To be more specific, we at Mary's Compass want to teach you what it means to aspire for holiness. Yes, it might be painful to put these traits into action. Don't lose hope, for this pain will lead to beautiful things. It's worth it!

To know what we're talking about in this blog, you might want a Bible (preferrably NAB or RSV) and a Catechism. You could also just search for things on the web, or we'll post links to what we're referencing if it's a long excerpt and it's available online.

This post is an introduction, so you know what we're covering.

What is virtue, you ask?

Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good. CCC #1833

Good involves aspiring for the traits I mentioned earlier. These traits can be applied to all aspects of life--and they should be. It isn't just another list of things not to do. We know and want to tell you: Life will  have true happiness if you start living them out. They'll demand a lot of change, because what's better isn't by any means easier. This is why people tend to choose the easy path, only to reach the end broken and miserable. While the Narrow Path involves blood, sweat, tears, we will become works of art. We'll have let God perfect us.

The human virtues are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct in accordance with reason and faith. They can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. CCC #1834

There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. They inform all the moral virtues and give life to them. CCC #1841 

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Christians are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. CCC #1845

Confusing? We'll talk about these more, so it doesn't sound like a checklist. When lived out, you'll find they all come together into one thing: Holiness.

Chastity is emphasized by a lot of Christians. As a result, people forget there are other qualities that need attention as well. Of course it's important, and everyone needs to work on it—don't stop teaching about chastity—but if you're not telling kids in youth groups about the whole package, chastity will be a lot harder to carry out. It's all balance to paint a beautiful picture; too much blue will drown out the other colors that make a person unique.

If only youth leaders would teach about the other qualities, too! Young people should also start reading up on these things. There's more to life than chastity, even though it's important. We cannot achieve chastity without first observing the virtues, because it is actually a Gift of the Holy Spirit (which we will also cover) and,

They [the Gifts of the Holy Spirit] complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations. CCC 1831

Finally, the Catechism lists charity as the greatest of the Virtues:

"If I . . . have not charity," says the Apostle [Paul], "I am nothing." Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, "if I . . . have not charity, I gain nothing."103 Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: "So faith, hope, charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity."104 

The practice of all the virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which "binds everything together in perfect harmony";105 it is the form of the virtues; it articulates and orders them among themselves; it is the source and the goal of their Christian practice. Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love. CCC 1826-1827

So you'll be seeing a lot on the Beatitudes, Virtues, and Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Taking up examples from all over the world, we will show them lived out in their finest, because they lead to a life of holiness--and a holy life is a happy one. Think of yourself as a sculpture, and each of these traits can only come from God molding you to perfection--as CS Lewis put so beautifully in Mere Christianity:

And this is precisely what Christianity is about. This world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumour going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life.

The pain that comes from correcting one's faults--that's how we come to life. That's how we become perfect. We should aspire to perfection--nobody is perfect, but that doesn't mean we can't try to be the best we can be.

No one blogging here pretends to be perfect, even though we've taken on this project. We are improving even as we write all these entries. We aren't afraid of questions--feel free to ask us, if any come up. One thing is for certain: Virtue is a happy life, leading to holiness, and holiness makes saints.

Thank you for reading, and there will be more soon!
-Mariella (Visit Website)

Why We Honor Mary in the First Place, Anyways

Ask a Catholic why on earth – or in heaven – they would “ignore” Christ to venerate and request favors from Mary, and you will probably be answered with the most evident reason: the Blessed Virgin is Christ’s mother, and after all, why wouldn’t Christ listen to His mother more graciously than He would to us? Then you might get a broad covering of that whole dulia versus hyperdulia thing. All this might be a tad misleading. Christ doesn’t “listen more” to the prayers of any one person over another (Mary is more than just a person, but that’s beside the point), but Mary does make the prayers of sinners more efficacious. How can this be?

Well, let me tell you a story. I am completely stealing expanding  on this analogy from St. Louis de Montfort (I can’t help it, his comparisons are just way better than anything I can come up with!) but here goes.

 Imagine for a moment a city from the past, ruled by a wise and majestic king. Now in the city there are many beggars, formerly respectable citizens who squandered everything they had and now live miserably in the streets.  The king often gives them funds and bread, out of his great kindness, but they, after momentary to gratefulness, waste the gifts, fall back into their squalid ways, and then grumble about how the King should improve living conditions. Now, one hobo, feeling ashamed of his ungratefulness, decides he wants to give the King a gift. The problem is, he doesn’t have much, and what he does have is pretty gross: his clothes are dirty and ragged, his blanket the same, and he has no money. The only thing that might be acceptable is the ration of food given to him by the King’s charity service.

Now to give the King back this small loaf of bread in its present form would be more insulting than reparatory, and the beggar knows that. So he goes to the palace, but instead of requesting an audience with the King, he begs to see the queen, and offers her the loaf, saying, “This is for the King. It isn’t much, but perhaps if it is from you, he will accept it.”

The queen, feeling sorry for the poor cowering beggar, and admiring his intention, takes his request seriously. So she slips into the royal kitchen, slices the loaf into delicate slices, covers them with butter, surrounds them with fruit and flowers, and arranges the glorified  bread on a silver platter. Then she carries it to the throne room, presents it with a little bow and a smile, and places it by his side. He smiles back and takes a slice, greatly pleased. For how could he refuse such a gracious gift?

 Queen of Heaven

Mary is the queen of Heaven. Sometimes we take that title for granted. We don’t stop to think what it implies. First, that God put her in charge of the entire universe. She co-redeems us with her Son. She’s the Trinity’s secretary of prayers and blessings for everyone in the whole world. She is the intercessor for the condemned, the gentle hand on the Hand of God, the heart of heaven. Almost any way a queen would act, would be how Mary acts on our behalf. 

So how can we even begin to approach her? She is the crown of His creation, the New Paradise, the epitome of all virtue. She is in the most literal sense a perfect human being, and has terrible (in the sense of just how great it is) power before the throne of God. 

Well, think for a moment about an earthly queen, who has children. She loves them just like any other mother, with tenderness. She plays with them and giggles at their infantile jokes and cuddles them, and doesn’t get offended if they mess her hair, or in childish ignorance say things that no other subject would dare say, but gently corrects them. However, when she is in full regalia, on the throne, in court, they can see her in her other office. She is powerful, and they must respect that. They may ever be in awe at her majesty, and stand solemnly at her side, addressing her with the formal title everyone else must use. But this doesn’t change the fact that she is really and truly their mother.

One more fact that often gets passed over or misunderstood: by giving honor to Mary, we are not just currying her favor to get stuff from God, but indeed honoring Him through her. This makes sense for three reasons: 

1.       Mary is, to quote the Scriptures, “the Crown of All Creation,” the new Eve and the new paradise. In other words, she is, above all the beautiful mountains and rivers and forests on the earth, above all human beings, above the awe-inspiring stars and supernovas, and even above the angels, His best creation. In her every virtue reached perfection, as did the simple beauty of bodily form. Or as good old St. Louis put it, God created her to be the aqueduct of all His grace. When you stop to think about it, this is really a magnificent analogy: the aqueducts of Roman times were amazing structures, graceful in form and well-designed for their purpose So by honoring her, we are essentially saying, “What an awesome job you did there, God.”

2.       Since Mary is possessed of all virtues in their perfection, she has perfect humility. Yeah, sure, we might say, that’s great and all, but why does that explicitly honor God? Because, as much power as God invested Mary with, she would never dream of taking one smidgeon of glory to herself. She’s like a better version of Galadriel from the Lord of the Rings: she is handed the Ring of Power, but chooses to “diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.” Or something like that. Obviously Mary was free from all temptation, so it’s not quite kosher, but you get the idea. We give honor to Mary, it passes straight through her, she magnifies it, like the opposite of what happens when sunshine passes through a magnifying glass, and God receives it in better shape than when we sent it.

3.       If you really want to please someone, don’t insult his mother, compliment her. Same goes with God.

That’s why we pray to Mary. She is God’s Mother, yes. But she is also Our Mother, the Queen of the Universe, Treasurer of Grace and the summit of nature.  Instead of wondering why we pray to her, you would think people would be wondering why they don’t! 

There are many more wonderful conceptions and truths about the Blessed Virgin Mary, some of them so rich in meaning that the saints have written entire books on the subject. But in the interest of your brain’s information-processing center, my fingers, and your attention span, we’ll save those for a later post.

God Bless and may the Queen of Heaven smile on you today! 

All you have to do is ask.

~Samantha

Welcome!

Welcome to Mary's Compass! It's our hope that in the posts to follow, you'll find something to apply to your own life--a quote, a truth, a nice poem.

The authors come from diverse backgrounds, and some are guest bloggers. However, we have one goal in mind: To follow the path to New Life, the better life, in guidance of the Blessed Mother. We want to tell you about what we find on the way. Joy isn't meant to be kept to oneself.

We hope that Christians of all denominations will read our findings, because even though the title is Mary's Compass, this is a joy that ought to be shared by everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and the peace He left for all of us.

The truth is, it felt wrong to start a blog about purity and avoid consecrating it to His Mother, the purest creature of all. Hopefully our differences don't conflict so much that fellow brothers and sisters will avoid us. Our title is not meant to be a war cry in any way--quite the opposite.

As each blogger introduces him/herself, we will update the About page. We look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Blessings,
Mariella Hunt
(Visit my Website!)