- Cardinal Virtues
“Do you not know that runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline…They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. I drive my body and train it…”
Corinthians 9:24-25, 27
Today we are learning about four special virtues called the Cardinal Virtues! These virtues please God and help us to make the right decisions in our lives. They include Justice, Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude. The more we practice these virtues, the better we become at living them out in our daily life!
Discuss:
What activities require us to practice?
What happens when we don’t practice those activities?
What makes it hard for us to practice?
How do you avoid temptations not to practice?
What is the goal of our race on Earth (What is the imperishable crown)?
How are you practicing to win your life’s race? (What do you do to grow in your faith?)
Justice
Justice is the first Cardinal Virtue we will learn about. Justice means that we give each person their due. This could mean someone pays for a crime, but it also means giving workers a fair wage and giving thanks to people who help us. Acting with Justice means that we respect the rights of our neighbors and act fairly in all situations. Loving, worshipping and thanking God are also acts of Justice, because God is worthy of our love and has given us everything we have.
Discuss:
Have you ever done something unjust (unfair)? If you feel comfortable, explain what it was.
Why did you act in an unjust way?
Why is it hard to act with Justice?
Read:
When we sin, Justice demands that we work to fix what we damaged. This is why the priest always gives us a penance to do after confession. If we break something, we should try to fix it. If we steal, we should try to pay back the owner. If we lie, we should tell the truth. Sometimes, though, we cannot fix what we broke. This is why God became a man. Jesusaccepted our punishment by dying on the cross so that he could fix what we could not. We can be like Jesus by taking the time to pray for each other and offering God our own hardships and suffering for anyone who needs them.
St. Ivo
St. Ivo was born to a wealthy noble family. From the age of 14, he studied the laws of the Church and his country and hoped to become a lawyer one day. Eventually, after much hard work, he reached his goal and began to represent clients in court. Unfortunately, there were always some people who needed a lawyer, but did not have the money to hire one. St. Ivo helped those people for free, often ministering to them while they waited for their trial in prison. He also refused all bribes, gave large amounts of money and food to the poor and did great penances including frequent fasts from food. St. Ivo did all of this because he loved God and his Catholic faith which taught him to be just.
Discuss
How did St. Ivo live a life of Justice?
Name one thing you could do tomorrow to practice the virtue of Justice.
Activity:
Take the poster provided. Using what you now know about Justice, imagine what this virtue would look like if it was a person. Draw and label him/her doing something Just.
Fortitude
The next virtue we will learn about is Fortitude. This virtue helps us have the courage to be strong and courageous Catholics, even when others threaten us. Read the story of St. Tarsicius below to see how Fortitude helps us live out our faith.
St. Tarsicius
(Tar-sis-y-us)
Tarsicius was a young boy who lived in Rome at a time, when Christians were being put in prison oreven killed simply because they believed in Jesus. One day, a large number of Christians was caught and put in prison. Word reached the bishop that these men and women were taken prisoner and condemned to die. The only thing these men and women asked for was to receive our Lord in the Eucharist one last time.
The bishop asked who could bring the Eucharist to the prisoners. Some adults volunteered, but after some thought they all realized that anyone approaching the prisoners would be captured and put in prison as well. Then, Tarcisius volunteered to go. He begged the bishop to send him, since, as a young boy, he wouldn’t be considered a threat by the guards and might come back unharmed. He could pass as a simple messenger boy.
The bishop hesitated, but knew only Tarsicius could bring the Eucharist safely to the prisoners. The bishop carefully placed our Lord in a case and gave Him to Tarcisius. Tarsicius’ hands clasped our Lord in his tunic, over his heart, and held him there the whole way.
Discuss:
Do you think Tarsicius was scared?
Why do you think the last wish of the Christians in prison was to have the Eucharist?
Read:
During his journey, some boys recognized Tarsicius and asked him to play with them. Tarsicius said that he had something very important to do and turned them down. The boys followed Tarsicius, noticing that he had something, and asked him what it was. Tarsicius wouldn’t show them, and so the boys began to try and take the Eucharist from Tarsicius.
Tarsicius held the Eucharist more and more tightly to his chest, praying for strength. The boys found out he was a Christian in the struggle and knew that he must be protecting some special Christian mystery. They tried to get the Eucharist even more. They beat Tarsicius and a crowd began to form and join in because he was a Christian.
A soldier, who was secretly a Christian, stumbled upon the boy and broke up the crowd. He picked up Tarsicius, who was very weak, and asked what happened. Tarsicius told him he had the Eucharist, and gave our Lord, safely, to the soldier before dying. Tarsicius was a very brave and faithful child of God. His love for Jesus in the Eucharist made him a martyr, and he now lives in heaven with the person he loves most of all: Jesus.
Discuss:
Why was the Eucharist so important to St. Tarsicius?
What do you think Tarsicius would say if he knew we could go to Mass and receive the Eucharist every Sunday without any fear of being put in prison?
How did St. Tarsicius show the virtue of Fortitude?
How can you use the virtue of fortitude in your life?
Activity: Imagine if Fortitude was a person. Draw and label him/her on your poster doing something courageous.
Prudence
Prudenceallows us to make some very difficult decisions by helping us to look at all of our options and choose the best one. For example, Prudence helps us to look at a situation and determine how to use it best for God’s glory.It can help us decide how to speak to our friends to convince them to stop doing something wrong, how we will use our talents or even what we will do during our free time.
Since Prudence is so important for our daily decisions, we must practice this virtue everyday! One way to practice this virtue is by learning God’s commandments and examining our conscience every night before we go to bed. When we examine our conscience, we think back on our day and on all the decisions that we made. We pray to know which decisions were good and which decisions broke God’s commandments. After we have done this, we ask for God’s forgiveness for the bad decisions we made and make a decision to do better the next day.
Discuss:
1. What types of decisions do you make each day?
2. How do you prepare to make those decisions?
3. How could a daily examination of conscience helpyou to make better decisions?
Activity: Imagine Prudence as a person. Draw him/her on your poster doing something “prudent”.
Temperance
There are many wonderful things in our world. God made all these things and he wants us to enjoy them. Unfortunately, too much of a good thing can be bad for us. For example, enjoying our food is good, but eating too much can be bad for our health. Temperance helps us to restrain ourselves when we might otherwise eat too much, stay up too late, or do too much of anything else which is otherwise good. It helps us to lead balanced lives for God.
Because Temperance is so important, we should practice this virtue often. A good way to practice this virtue would be to give up something good on a regular basis. For example, you might train yourself in Temperance by giving up dessert tomorrow. If you practice this virtue frequently, it will be much easier to say no to temptation!
(If you offer these “practices” to God as a penance, you can practice Justice at the same time!)
Discuss:
- What things are you tempted to do too much of?
- How could you practice Temperance for those things?
Activity A: Imagine Temperance as a person. Draw and label him/her on your poster.
Activity B:Come up with a T.V. commercial to convince your friends to practice the virtue of Temperance. If there is time, share this commercial idea with your table, acting out the parts.