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Since attitude and mindset are largely influenced by the philosophical foundations you knowingly or unknowingly subscribe to it is important to know the basics of what the Christian world view are. Living the Christian worldview centered on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the biggest game changer not only in mental health but in the well-being of every part of your life. The complete and total renewing of the mind comes from the grace of being in friendship with God. His grace perfects human nature starting with our thoughts and building our lifestyle and behavior patterns on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the virtues promoted by the teachings of Jesus, which come from the Catholic Church, the Bible and Sacred Tradition. The grace of God illuminates our intellect in order to understand truth and strengthens our will to make wise decisions based on truth. Since sin takes grace out of our souls, separates us from God and harms our relationship with Him the Christian worldview embraces a lifestyle that strives to turn away from and conquer sin while building the virtues that help us to know, love and serve God better.
The word virtue can be defined as a habitual and firm disposition to do good. Virtues can also be described as attitudes and habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our emotions, and guide our behavior according to reason and faith (51). Acquiring virtues makes it easy to overcome temptations and even find joy in leading a morally good life. There are several virtues that are both natural and super natural as well as many different gifts of the Holy Spirit that God Himself, through grace, plants and cultivates in the human soul. The objective of living a virtuous life is to become like God (51).
“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. Wisdom of this kind does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.” - James 3:13-18
Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope & Love
In order to Rise to Good Health we need the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Love. These three virtues are not a part of the natural human existence, but are supernatural spiritual gifts given to us by God. These three theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity and give life to the Christian lifestyle (52). Faith, hope and love are infused into the human soul by God through the sacrament of baptism. They make it possible for us to act as Gods children and live in His Kingdom now and in eternity. Each of these virtues is planted as a seed in the new Christians life in the sacrament of baptism and must be cultivated and grown through prayer in order to be expressed fully. These three theological virtues can also be viewed as supernatural weapons that protect us in the spiritual battles and trials of everyday life as St. Paul states “But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation” (1Thess 5:8).
Faith is the theological virtue that makes it possible for us to believe in God and all that He has said and revealed to us through the Bible, the Church and Sacred Tradition. In Hebrews 11:1 St. Paul tells us “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen”. The Church has always taught that Faith and reason are not opposed but meant to work together synergistically. Faith can also be viewed as a s supernatural flashlight that illuminates the human mind allowing it to understand the truths of God’s revelation. It is impossible to understand the supernatural truths of God with natural human intellect alone, therefore the gift of faith must be planted in the human soul through baptism and nourished in order for the supernatural power of the Christian lifestyle to develop and mature.
Hope is the theological virtue that orients us to trust in the promises of Jesus as well as desire to live in the Kingdom of Heaven in this life and in eternal life as our destination of happiness. It strengthens our desire for activities that are spiritually good and beneficial for the kingdom of heaven. This supernatural gift of hope also protects us from discouragement, sustains us in times of abandonment and opens the human heart up to the expectation of eternal beatitude in the next life (53). Lifted up by hope, we are protected from the selfishness of happiness levels 1 & 2 and led to the happiness of levels 3 & 4 that are rooted in charity. The Bible makes it very clear that through hope it is very possible to have joy in the storms of life and in times of tribulation in Romans 12 “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation” and in Romans 5 “Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Charity, also synonymous with agape love and related to happiness level 4 is the third theological virtue by which we are able to love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. In John 13:34 Jesus tells us “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have love you, so you also should love one another”. Jesus loved us by sacrificing His very life for our good and He gives us the power to do the same in this theological virtue. Charity is so central to Jesus’ teaching that He tells His disciples “This is how al l will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). 1 Corinthians 13 is very clear that Charity/agape Love is the greatest of all the virtues: “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” and “If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing”. The practice of all true virtue is animated and inspired by charity, which is the source and goal of the Christian lifestyle (54). When the supernatural virtue of charity is at work in the human soul it sustains and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural excellence of divine love.
Natural Human virtues
Natural human virtues are acquired and built into the human lifestyle through education, effort and perseverance. Of the many natural virtues recognized by philosophers throughout history there are four “cardinal” or “hinge” virtues that play a foundational role as all the other virtues flow from or hinge on them. The four cardinal virtues are prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. The Bible makes many references to virtue but particularly highlights the cardinal virtues in the book of Wisdom 8:7 “Or if one loves righteousness, whose works are virtues, She teaches moderation (temperance) and prudence, righteousness (justice) and fortitude, and nothing in life is more useful than these.
Prudence
"The naive believes everything, but the sensible man considers his steps." - Proverbs 14:15 (NASB)
Prudence is the virtue that brings our minds to understand and determine the true good in every situation and to choose the right way to achieve that good. St. Thomas Aquinas put it simply when he wrote “prudence is right reason in action” (55). Prudence is often called the vehicle or root of all the other human virtues as it guides the decision making process in the human conscience. When prudence is well built up in the human soul a person is able to apply moral values to all of life’s situations without mistake while overcoming doubts about the good consequence to achieve or the evil consequence to avoid (55).
Justice
“You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your neighbor justly” - Leviticus 19:15
“Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, realizing that you too have a Master in heaven” – Colossians 4:1
Justice is the moral virtue that guides us to firmly want to give God and man their just due. Justice toward God directs us to reverence Him as all powerful, all mighty and deserving of our ultimate love and respect. Justice toward our neighbor disposes us to respect the rights and dignity of each person and to establish social harmony and the greater good for all populations of people (56).
An example of social justice in the modern world is the Pro-life movement where supports fight for the protection of unborn humans from the unjust termination of human life through abortion.
Fortitude
“The LORD, my strength and might, has become my savior.” - Psalms 118:14
“I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” – John 16:33
Fortitude is the moral virtue that encourages strength in challenging or dangerous situations and persistence in the pursuit of good. Fortitude strengthens our determination to resist temptation and overcome obstacles in living a moral and virtuous lifestyle (57). Fortitude allows us to conquer the greatest of fears, facing trials and persecutions and even laying down our own life for a just cause just as Jesus did (57).
Temperance
“Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites. If you allow your soul to take pleasure in base desire, it will make you the laughingstock of your enemies. Do not revel in great luxury, lest you become impoverished by its expense.” – Sirac 18-30-33 (RSV)
“For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.” - Titus 2:11-14
Temperance is the moral virtue most synonymous with “will power”. It controls the attraction of sensual pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. Temperance produces self-mastery over instincts and keeps desires for pleasure within the limits of what is honorable (58). The person who has built temperance directs their sensual appetites and instincts toward what is good based on truth and possesses a healthy self-control. Temperance is typically directed at moderating food and sexual pleasures, but can be applied to the tempering of any behavior to prevent excess, waste or harm to the body or soul through sin and vice.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 1809, quotes St Augustine’s perfect summary of the cardinal virtues with regard to the spiritual life:
“To live well is nothing other than to love God with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul and with all one’s efforts; from this it comes about that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (fortitude). It obeys only God (justice), and is careful in discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (prudence).”
The 7 Deadly Sins and Opposing Virtues
The word vice can be defined as an immoral or corrupt pattern of behavior. Of the many different types of sins and vices there are seven that the Church has identified as the seven capital or “deadly” vices as each one of them leads to many other sins in our patterns of behavior. The word deadly is often used to describe these vices as a reminder that habits of sin deaden the soul by darkening the intellect and weakening the will.
Pride and Humility
Pride the foundation of all sin and is described as an unhealthy self-esteem or self-love that selfishly seeks attention and acknowledgement placing one’s self above or in higher regard than God and others. Characteristics of pride include narcissism and vanity when considering one’s self-worth compared to others in relation to appearance, social status or possessions. The Italian classic book Dante’s Inferno: the Divine Comedy describes pride as “love of self perverted to the hatred and contempt ofr one’s neighbor” (59).
Humility, stems from the theological virtue of charity and the cardinal virtue of temperance. Humility, simply stated, is acknowledging the truth that God is the perfect author of all good in comparison to the imperfection of the individual self. We need self-knowledge to know true humility in order to realize our specific personal weaknesses and defects compared to God’s perfection of being. As the virtue opposite to pride, true humility seeks to serve others and is quick to praise the good qualities of others (60). Humility is related to charity as it seeks to put God and others before self and is related to temperance as it tempers and moderates emotional urges to see the bad or hope for the bad in others. Another good description of humility is “not thinking less about yourself, but thinking of yourself less”. Where pride is the root of all sin, humility is a foundational virtue on which other virtues grow.
Envy and Admiration and Kindness
Envy is the closest daughter of pride and can be described as an unprovoked sorrow or distress when another person receives or earns something good. Envy differs from jealousy were it goes beyond the coveting of the goods of others and brings a person to anguish and unsettled disposition at the news of other people’s good fortunes. Envy becomes a cardinal sin and vice when it leads a person to act out in other sins due to the envious disposition. Wisdom 2:23-24 states “For God formed us to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made us. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are allied with him experience it.
Kindness and admiration are the virtues opposite to envy. Kindness, rooted in philia love seeks to find the good and rejoice in the blessings of others. It is also rooted in charity as it unselfishly seeks for the good of other people, making it easy to be happy at the good fortunes of others. Admiration is a vehicle with which to express kindness. Admiration can be practiced by thinking or saying a positive truth about a person you are tempted to experience envy toward.
Anger (rage) and Forgiveness
The vice of anger is also known as wrath or rage. Not to be confused solely with the natural human emotion of anger, the sin of anger occurs when the desire for revenge accompanies it. The human emotion of anger is a good thing and there is such thing as “just anger” as it is designed to stir us to act to fight injustices and help those who are treated unfairly. The natural emotion of anger is meant to be expressed or dealt with in a healthy way. The bible says in Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger”. The desire for revenge is a vice in and of itself, but when a person gives in to actions and behaviors toward others such as violence, gossip and slander it becomes a downward spiral of sin leading to a dysfunction of soul that is hard to cure. An explosive or quick temper is a symptom of underlying anger and built up resent. It is said that unresolved anger, resent and unforgiveness are responsible for a great deal of psychosomatic mental, emotional and physical illnesses such as depression, obsessive compulsive disorders, bipolar disorders, heart disease and cancer. Unforgiveness is like drinking a poison and expecting the other person to be harmed, it only harms ourselves and spills into our behavior affecting relationships and all the circumstances or life.
Forgiveness was a central virtue to the teachings of Jesus and is the surest remedy to deadly anger and the damaging effects it has on the body and soul. Forgiveness is the key that heals rage and wrath as it is also rooted in charity, humility, and the loves of philia and agape. Forgiveness is a commandment given by Jesus and He explains the gravity of its importance in Matthew 6:14-15 “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions”. It is important to note that forgiveness is not the giving in and conceding that another person was right in their hurtful actions against you. Every person is justly due to feel hurt after the hurtful actions of others and true forgiveness doesn’t deny that. True forgiveness acknowledges the person was wrong and caused some type of hurt or damage, but releases the person form the debt they owed you. When a person does preform some type of grave evil toward another it is actually an impossible debt to repay anyway. Forgiving others their trespasses against us is mirroring the forgiveness that God gives to us even though we are un able to repay him for the debt we owe Him for original sin and all the sins of our past, present and future. Another very important point to make about forgiveness is that it is not a feeling, it’s a choice. It is very possible chose to forgive someone while still suffering from the wounded emotions that the other person or persons caused. It’s obviously not an easy choice to make but when you consider the facts that God always forgives us, commanded us to forgive, we are forgiven by God conditionally as we forgive others and it’s good for our health we have plenty of reasons with eternal consequences to make that decision. Developing a habit of being quick to forgive, or at least being quick to think about and want to forgive after even the smallest situations will strengthen and develop this virtue for times when life requires a bigger level of forgiveness.
Meekness, often used synonymously with patience, is the virtue that is most commonly described as strength under control. Patience can be defined as the ability to tolerate misfortune, interruption, aggravation or suffering without getting angry, upset or complaining. It is often confused with being a pushover, but meekness is not weakness. It actually takes a great deal of patients and temperance to restrain anger in a heated moment and patiently treat somebody with dignity when they are acting vile and immature. Meekness is composed of a mixture of patience, temperance and humility and seeks to control explosive or quick tempers while looking for a healthy resolve to conflict and showing mercy to adversaries. Jesus says in Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves”. Think about Jesus during His passion and death. He was spit on, mocked, brutally beaten, unjustly accused and condemned and He kept strong control of His emotions and reactions the entire time. As the King of the universe and containing all power in heaven and earth He could have struck back or even lashed in a just anger at the infinite insults, but He controlled His strength till the end as He completed His mission in the will of God the Father. That’s true meekness.
Sloth and Zeal for the Mission
The vice of sloth is best described as spiritual laziness. St. Thomas Aquinas described sloth as “a sadness in the face of some spiritual good which one has to achieve” such as practicing the Christian faith or growing in virtue. St. Thomas Aquinas also described a slothful person as being “formally distressed at the prospect of what he must do for God to bring about or keep intact his friendship with God” (59). Sloth can be observed in a person who is outgoing in many secular activities but suddenly becomes bored and unenergetic when the topics of spiritual matters or faith comes up.
Zeal is a virtue that opposes sloth and can be described as a strong feeling of interest and enthusiasm that guides a person into being eager or determined to do something (61). A holy zeal comes from knowing and appreciating God in all His goodness thus wanting to spread His goodness to others. Diligence is another virtue that opposes sloth and can be described as persistence and stick-to-it-ivness in matters of growing in relationship with God and the spiritual life.
Avarice and Generosity
Greed, also known as avarice or covetousness, is the vice described by St. Thomas Aquinas as an immoderate desire for riches, property or power. This is a sin of obtaining excessive amounts of good things that we don’t need or are unable to use therefore are wasted or may even be a harmful amount to have. When the instinctual concupiscent desires within a person aren’t tempered with virtue there develops the immoderate greed for things beyond our need. The sin of greed can be particularly blinding for a person to the needs of the poor or those who are in needy situations.
Generosity is the virtue that opposes greed. Generosity is an attitude and disposition of heart that propels a person to live within their means prudently while seeking to give excess riches, time or ability to those in need or are less fortunate. Generosity stems from the theological virtue of charity as it seeks the welfare of others without expecting anything in return.
Gluttony and Asceticism
Gluttony is the sin of over consuming or over indulgence in food or drink. Experiencing pleasure from food or drink is a gift from God to incent us to eat, however since the purpose of food consumption is to healthfully nourish the body is becomes a sin to repurpose the meaning of eating turning it solely into an activity for pleasure alone. Church theologians have also commented that the sin of gluttony can be committed by eating too soon, eating too expensively, eating too eagerly and eating widely (59) As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the obesity rated in America and related chronic illnesses are skyrocketing out of control.
Asceticism is a virtue rooted in the cardinal virtue of temperance and is an ancient form of disciplining the mind body and soul. Asceticism is the spiritual practice of self-denial and discipline in order to build self-control and break unhealthy attachments to earthly goods or bad habits allowing the soul have a stronger focus on God. Asceticism has always been a basic principle of Catholicism (i.e. obtaining from meat on Fridays and fasting during Lent) in denying sensual pleasures for a time to nurture spiritual growth. Examples of asceticism are fasting from your favorite food for a period of time, skipping a meal, missing a TV show and spending that time praying instead, or not going out to eat one day and instead buying a meal for a homeless person. One has to think that incorporating asceticism into our indulgent inactive culture would be cause for positive change.
Lust and Chastity
Lust is the vice that is centered in impure or perverted sexual desire. It is important to note here that lust is not the same as simple human sexual pleasures or desire. While sexual relations are valid within the context of marriage for the purpose of pro-creation and bonding between a couple, lust is wrong because it seeks to use another person or thing for the sole purpose of sexual pleasure. Lustful actions include fornication, adultery, rape, incest, looking at pornography, and looking at others with lust. Lust, when not tempered can lead to sexual addiction and all the spiritual, mental and physical diseases that come with it. It is a violation of human dignity to use another person for emotional or physical gratification. Pornography is a huge spiritual and cultural problem facing the world today. Advocates of pornography will claim there is nothing wrong with it, but that’s simply not true. Pornography degrades human nature by presenting the human body to be lusted after as an object, being used to give sensual pleasure to the onlooker. It completely insults the dignity of a human person who has infinite value and is made in God’s image. This reduces the humans participating in pornography to objects who are being used by onlookers they don’t even know. People who view pornography are not only using other human beings as a means for sexual pleasure, they are training their minds to view all humans as objects to be used. The culture as a whole has sunken into a dark sea of perversion where it’s expected to have the mentality that sexual pleasure or sexual perversion brings a person to happiness or fulfillment in life, but as we’ve already discussed it only leads to a decline in mental, social, physical and spiritual health. Once a person settles into the mentality of perverted utilitarianism it pervades all their relationships and wreaks havoc in their souls bringing them to decreased satisfaction in life and unhappiness.
Chastity is the virtue that opposes lust and can be lived in any state in life, young or old, married or single. Many people believe that chastity is simply the lack of sexual behavior but chastity is much deeper than that. Chastity is a virtue that starts in the mind where a person reverences and respects God’s gift of sexuality and its purpose for procreation and bonding of a man and woman within the context of marriage. The virtue of chastity brings a person to embrace moral wholesomeness and purity in thoughts, attitudes and actions (59). A firm foundation for growing in chastity is to recognize the value of each person as created in the image of God and to recognize the gravity of an offense it us to use another person for selfish reasons rather than contributing to that person’s good.
Christian Worldview Scriptures to Memorize
“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” - Romans 8:28
“The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.” - John 14:26
Jesus tells His apostles at the last supper: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”
- John 14:27
“I have the strength for everything through him (Christ) who empowers me”
– Philippians 4:13
“Be strong and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the LORD, your God, who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you.” – Deuteronomy 31:6
“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope. When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me “- Jeremiah 29:11-14
Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” – Luke 10:18-20
“Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil.” – 1 John 3:8
They sang a new hymn:
“Worthy are you to receive the scroll and to break open its seals, for you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth.”
– Revelation 5:9-10
“And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about: “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” - 1 Corinthians 15:54-55
“No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:37-39
The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; he restores my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. You set a table before me in front of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for endless days. - Psalm 23