-
August 6, 2023Today (August 6) is the feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord. At the morning Mass I celebrated today, I preached on the Gospel and what leads up to the Gospel (which you can watch on the homilies page of my website), but here I thought I would focus on Peters letter which was the second reading at Holy Mass today. The excerpt we heart at Mass comes from 2 Peter 1:16-19 (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080623.cfm) in which Peter is reminding his flock that he is an eye-witness to the amazing things Jesus did, including the Transfiguration, which is what he alludes to in the reading at Mass.
If you go to 2 Peter 1 and read the beginning of his letter (in fact, you should read all of chapter 1), we see the Holy Father encouraging his flock to live virtuous lives so they can achieve the promised resurrection. I especially love these verses: “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7). Let’s look at why each of these are important.
“…supplement your faith with virtue…”
Faith is a theological virtue and enough in-and-of itself, but St. Peter challenges us to supplement it with virtue. Why? Because if we have faith in Jesus believing He is the son of God and redeemer of the world, we’re called to live our life as He told us to: taking up our Cross and following Him. This involves living a life of virtue. Important virtues the Church asks us to live out are Justice, Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, and Chastity. If we live these virtues while continuing to grow in faith, we will achieve the promised resurrection, but St. Peter doesn’t stop there!
“[supplement] virtue with knowledge”
We need to know why we’re living a virtuous life to help us stay the course. Living a life of virtue is just as easy today as it was in the first century. The world, which is run by the enemy (the devil), wants us to believe that we will be happiest doing the opposite of the virtues listed above: no justice for all, only for me; why be temperate when I can have instant gratification; who cares about prudence when I want what I want when I want it; fortitude is confused with being the strongest person in the room; and chastity is for losers. Knowledge reminds us of why we live virtuous lives and helps us reject the lies of the world and evil one.
“[supplement] knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance”
To do everything I listed above takes great discipline and endurance. The evil one will throw every lie at us to confuse us and turn away from almighty God. If we resist him (the devil) through knowledge of the truth (who is Jesus) and practicing self-control, we will endure whatever obstacles are placed in front of us and continue to grow in holiness.
“[supplement] endurance with devotion”
Devotion to God is more than rosaries, chaplets, novenas, and liturgy. Devotion is to put God above all else. God comes before sports, school, jobs, family, hobby’s, etc. If we love God, we will adore Him, and make Him the priority of our life.
“[supplement] devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.”
Making God the priority, which puts Him ahead of family, friends, school, sports, work, etc., doesn’t mean we can love our relatives or have fun in life. Devotion to God manifests itself in our affection for one another (people we like, dislike, and even strangers) and how we love. “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) The way we love and take care of others is part of our devotion. This is why we can’t just say a daily rosary, or only attend Mass, or just “be kind” to people and think we’re going directly to heaven. We need to love one another as God loves us.
When we follow St. Peters trail of thought it makes sense. Faith is enough but to live out our faith, which is required of all disciples of Jesus, it takes living lives of virtue with knowledge, self-control, endurance, devotion, mutual affection, and of course love. We can only do this right with the help of God received through daily prayer and reception of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist on Sundays and Reconciliation. Let’s get working on this together!
