Suffering With Joy

The Virtue of Religion

July 28, 2011

kneeling in prayer

In last Sunday’s Mass prayer we ask God to “graft in our hearts the Love of Thy name, and grant us an increase of religion….”

What is “religion” and why do we need an increase of it?  We don’t hear much if anything about this important virtue, but the lack of it in society today is due to man enthroning himself in the place of God.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says this about the virtue of religion:

Of the three proposed derivations of the word “religion”, that suggested by Lactantius and endorsed by St. Augustine seems perhaps to accord better with the idea than the others. He says it comes from religare, to bind. Thus it would mean the bond uniting man to God.

The notion of it commonly accepted among theologians is that which is found in St. Thomas’s “Summa Theologica”, II-II, Q. lxxxi. According to him it is a virtue whose purpose is to render God the worship due to Him as the source of all being and the principle of all government of things.

There can be no doubt that it is a distinct virtue, not merely a phase of another. It is differentiated from others by its object, which is to offer to Almighty God the homage demanded by His entirely singular excellence. In a loose construction it may be considered a general virtue in so far as it prescribes the acts of other virtues or requires them for the performance of its own functions.

It is not a theological virtue, because its immediate object is not God, but rather the reverence to be paid to Him. Its practice is indeed often associated with the virtues of faith and charity. Still the concordant judgment of theologians puts it among the moral virtues, as a part of the cardinal virtue justice, since by it we give God what is due to Him.

St. Thomas teaches that it ranks first among moral virtues. A religious attitude towards God is essentially the product of our recognition, not only of His sovereign majesty, but also of our absolute dependence on Him. Thus, as Father Rickaby says, He is not merely “the Great Stranger”, our behavior towards whom must be invested with awe and admiration; He is besides our Creator and Master and, in virtue of our supernatural filiation in the present order of things, our Father. Hence we are bound to cherish habitually towards Him sentiments of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, loyalty, and love.

Such a demeanor of soul is inexorably required by the very law of our being…. Our composite nature [body and soul ] needs to express itself by outward acts in which the body as well as the soul shall have a part — this not only to spur on our inner feelings, but also because God owns us body and soul, and it is right that both should show their fealty to Him. This is the justification of external religion. [Kneeling, bowing, walking in procession, making the sign of the Cross, etc.]

Of course God does not need our worship, whether interior or exterior, and it is puerile to impugn it on that score. We cannot by our homage add anything to His glory….It is not because it is strictly speaking of use to Him that we render it, but because He is infinitely worthy of it, and because it is of tremendous value to ourselves.

The chief acts of this virtue are adoration, prayer, sacrifice, oblation, vows; the sins against it are neglect of prayer, blasphemy, tempting God, sacrilege, perjury, simony, idolatry, and superstition.

In this time after Pentecost, the time of the Holy Spirit, practicing the virtue of religion causes the gift of piety to blossom, leading to those good works on behalf of our neighbor that a generous heart offers for the glory of God.

My next post is about the relationship between the virtue of religion and missionary work.  Please join me to hear from a priest who has spent 46 years among the indigenous peoples of the Andes.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

Tags: Catholic Church, virtue

4 Comments to The Virtue of Religion

1. 

   So many people think we go to Mass to get something from God. But we go to worhip him. To give him thanks and praise and adoration. And by doing that, we receive. By doing that we grow in faith and virtues. It is like the outward act helps us grow on the inside. I think that is why, no matter how I feel, when I go to Mass, I am always glad I went.
   Love your post. Thanks Barb!!
Colleen on July 28th, 2011
2. 

   Colleen, you hit the nail on the head.
barb on July 29th, 2011
3. 

   Colleen’s comment is interesting, Colleen. I’ve been using that argument about going to church to worship with my 6-y-o when he gripes about being bored. But I think that what we give (in terms of the virtue of religion, as Barb says) is too integrally wrapped up in what we *get* to consider them separately. It all has to be an organic whole–just like in marriage, you don’t consider given and received separately, but as part of the total package.
Kathleen@so much to say on July 31st, 2011
4. 

   Kathleen, I like your expression “organic whole” and “part of the total package.” It’s a good way to put it.
barb on August 1st, 2011