The Virtuous Man

This past August, Cardinal Timothy Dolan led us on our opening retreat. During this retreat, He gave us the recipe needed to make a good priest. The ingredients were a virtuous man, a theist, a disciple, a disciple living out his faith in union with the Church, and an authentic vocation to the priesthood. At each conference, the Cardinal focused on each ingredient and gave practical applications to each one. I found his reflection on the virtuous man to be very impactful to my spiritual life.

During his conference, Cardinal Dolan defined a man as someone with genuine freedom pursuing virtue. He practices sincere freedom by doing what he ought and not what he wants, and the man seeks virtue by practicing good habits in his daily life. The Cardinal emphasized the fact that grace builds upon nature. We must rely on the grace of God to persevere in virtue. Perseverance allows God to manifest his grace through us. If we allow ourselves to think we can do it all alone, we are mistaken; our virtue of humility will spoil into the vice of pride.

This conference made me think about the importance of being a virtuous man. I find it interesting that the Cardinal put it first on his recipe. This ingredient must be significant. A man seeking virtue is the foundation of being a good priest, a good husband, a good father. As I brought this into my prayer, I decided to pray with the Catechism and see what it says about virtue. In Paragraph 1803, the Church quotes St. Gregory of Nyssa; “the goal of a virtuous life is to be like God.” No wonder why it seemed to be an important ingredient. If a man cannot be a man of virtue, he is not seeking to be like God. If this man does not seek to be like God, how could he be a priest of God?

Every priest, and Christian for that matter, should strive to be like God. Let us pray that the youth of the Church will realize the importance of virtue and strive to be great saints by seeking a virtuous life. Please, pray for us in formation. Pray that we may allow God’s grace to build on our nature.