Judith,
Chapter 15, Verse 1-2
1 On hearing what had happened, those
still in their tents were horrified. 2 Overcome with fear and dread, no one kept ranks any longer. They scattered in all
directions, and fled along every path, both through the valley and in the hill
country.
Judith even in the midst of the enemy camp
demonstrates her piety and continues to keep Jewish dietary laws. When offered
rich fair she refuses and continues in prayer. Every morning before dawn she
leaves the camp to beseech the Lord. She keeps ritual purification and bathes
in the spring of the camp. Judith for three days establishes this routine in
the camp. She knows she must kill Holofernes before the 5th day when
the rulers of the city promised to surrender. She pushes trust in Yahweh to its
limits. On the 4th day she is invited by Holofernes to a banquet.
She accepts prepares her weapon, her beauty and sallies forth to battle. The
power of her beauty is immediately evident. Holofernes is overcome with desire.
He drinks too much and lies drunk on the bed. All the guests depart thinking they
are getting jiggy with it. They are alone. She prays and draws Holofernes own
sword; asks for strength and strikes severing his head from his body. Judith
calmly returns to her routine; wraps the head in a food pouch and goes out of
the camp for prayer. She goes home and liberation is proclaimed. Victory now
needs action. Judith acting as general hangs the head on the city wall and
initiates a fake attack on the camp. The cry is heard in the camp of
Holofernes: “A single Hebrew woman has brought disgrace on the house of King
Nebuchadnezzar!” The troops are dismayed. They run back to Syria.[1]
Scripture and the Church teach us that we have three
divinely ordained purposes that give our lives meaning:
·
Salvation
— seeking to save our eternal souls and help save the souls of others (that
salvation, the Church teaches, is God's free gift but requires our cooperation
through faith in God, obedience to his commandments, and repentance of our
grave sins).
·
Service
— using our God-given talents to build God's kingdom here on earth.
·
Sanctity
— growing in holiness.
The third of these life goals, sanctity, is central to
building Catholic character. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says
something that is stunning: "Be thou made perfect, as your heavenly Father
is perfect" (Mt 5:48). St. Gregory put it this way: "The goal of a
virtuous life is to become like God." Scripture tells us, "God is
love" (1 Jn 4:16). If we want to be like God, our vocation is to love. The
essence of love is to sacrifice for the sake of another, as Jesus did. Love is
self-gift. What, then, is our goal if we want to develop Catholic character in
our children and ourselves? Look to the character of Christ: A life of
self-giving.
Natural
Virtues
The high goal of Christ-like character builds on a
base of what the Church calls "natural virtues." Among the natural
virtues that families and schools should nurture are the four advanced by the
ancient Greeks, named in Scripture (Wis 8:7), and adopted by the Church as
"the cardinal virtues": prudence, which enables us to judge what we
should do; justice, which enables us to respect the rights of others and give
them what they are due; fortitude, which enables us to do what is right in the
face of difficulties; temperance, which enables us to control our desires and
avoid abuse of even legitimate pleasures. These natural virtues are developed
through effort and practice, aided by God's grace.
In order to develop a Christ-like character, however,
we need more than the natural virtues. We also need the three supernatural, or
"theological," virtues:
Spiritual
Virtues
1. Faith in God, which enables us to
believe in God and the teachings of his church.
2. Hope in God, which leads us to view
eternal life as our most important goal and to place total trust in God.
3. Love of God, which enables us to
love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
The three theological virtues are considered
supernatural because they come from God and have as their purpose our
participation in God's divine life. As the Catechism (1813) teaches, the
theological virtues are not separate from the natural virtues; rather, they
"are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give
it its special character." The Catholic writer Peter Kreeft points out,
"The Christian is prudent, just, courageous, and self-controlled out of
faith in God, hope in God, and love of God." The supernatural virtues,
like the natural virtues, grow stronger through our effort and practice, in
cooperation with God's grace.
Daily Devotions
·
Battle for
the Soul of America-Day 3
[1]The
Collegeville Bible Commentary, 1986.
[2]http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/education/catholic-contributions/building-catholic-character-5-things-parents-can-do.html
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