What does it mean to live a good life? What does it mean to live a moral life? What does it mean to use human freedom responsibly? What is sin? What does it mean to make a prudent decision? What does it mean to have a formed conscience? What makes a law or a government or a ruler moral?
Such are the questions of moral theology. And the Saint whom we honor today, Saint Alphonus Ligouri is the patron saint of moral theologians and confessors. He was a very gifted thinker, a holy priest, and one of the 35 doctors of the Church.
Alphonus said, “All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good. It is part of the love of God to acquire and to nurture all the virtues which make a man perfect.”
For Alphonsus seeking our supreme good, means making intentional effort to cultivate and nurture the virtues. And he even recommended practicing a particular virtue each month: January: faith; February: Hope; March: Love of God; April: Love of Neighbor; May: Poverty; June: Purity of Heart; July: Obedience; August: Meekness and Humility of Heart; September: Mortification; October: Reconciliation and Silence; November: Prayer; and December: Self-Abnegation and Love of the Cross.”
This intentional practicing of a particular virtue is more effective than a general, vague desire to become more virtuous. St. Alphonsus even recommended keeping a notebook or journal—an account of your failures and successes in practicing those virtues. For example, as we begin the month of August, every day we should be conscious and intentional about making acts of meekness and humility
The Lord himself is the model of meekness and humility: he bears wrongs patiently and readily forgives sinners. So, we, like Him, must forgive readily, avoid quarrels and harsh or hurtful words and actions, refrain from speaking while in an angry mood, be pleasant toward all who approach us, even if it causes us fatigue or boredom.
In the end, our supreme Good is found in loving, imitating, and becoming one with Jesus Christ, who is not just a model of the virtues, not just a teacher of morality, but the source of all goodness, the fountain of all holiness, our salvation from what is worst in the human soul.
May St. Alphonsus help us to practice the virtues, to put on Christ, to seek the goodness and perfection for which we are made, for the glory of God and salvation of souls
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