A discourse on every-day virtues

INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE
PART III, CHAPTERS 1-10

English-Speaking/Asian-African Group
CAESAR DIZON (16154T),
JOSEPH MINJA [15999T],
SHOWRILU CHINNABATHUNI

Humility

• It can not be forced from the outside. It must come from within. It enables us to accept any situation (both sadness and happiness) in life as well as its burdens (responsibilities).
• It is for all and not just for certain categories of people. But it should be expressed according to one’s state in life.
• Mother Teresa’s (of Calcutta) humility enabled her to reach out to the lowest strata of society. St. Francis de Sales came from the nobility, yet he was able to mix with ordinary people.

Abjection

• I can’t accept his teaching on abjection. Perhaps this is due to differences in mentality. I don’t know for the life of me why anyone would want to feel and be treated like a door mat. While I can accept the fact that a street sweeper may have qualities which put him ahead of me, I don’t think I can accept that in terms of education he would be ahead of me.

Patience

• This part struck me because I am impatient. For example, I hate waiting. When I lose my patience, I tend to complain a lot.
• This virtue gives us the capacity to endure suffering. Life has its share of problems and difficulties (community life, too). Patience enables us to go through these.
• There are always things to complain about. There are always trouble and difficulties. But we can do something about it. If we just open our eyes, we will realize that there are people with troubles greater than our own and yet, they handle them well. I complained about having no shoes, until I saw someone without feet.
• Patience is important in pastoral work. For instance, I used to go to a village. Going there is inconvenience (if not hardship) enough. But to wait for two hours before people start to come one by one (in trickles) is too much. But you have to be patient.

Anger

• Anger does no good. That is why Don Bosco reminded us never to punish in anger, never to reprimand when angry. For the boys will think that we punish and reprimand out of anger and not with their good in mind. And in fact, when we do punish under the influence of anger, our punishment tend to be unreasonable.

Righteousness

• In community one should be righteous with everyone. Righteousness means treating everyone correctly, open-minded, humble, available to all, possessing fine human qualities and being truthful.

Wisdom

• I forget to ask for wisdom. I pray to pass the exams. But why? For what? With wisdom I will be able to accept God’s will in my life and I will be able to use my gifts for the benefit of others.

Living without becoming Over Anxious

• I find his observations and advice reasonable. Indeed, anxiety affects performance. And by attempting to do everything at once, we end up doing nothing.

Troubles and Complaints

• Troubles are the part and parcels of our lives. Very often we are overtaken by them and tend to think that is the end of everything. Other people have got more and unbearable problems/each one differently. Francis is reminding us to accept them positively and do away with complains. Perhaps they teach us of carrying the cross with the crucified Jesus.