Learning the Virtues

There's more to goodness than keeping the Commandments: you've got to cultivate virtue, too, so that you please God in what you do — not merely in what you don't do. In these pages, you'll learn countless ways to grow in such virtue.

The wise Msgr. Romano Guardini, a German priest hailed by Pope Benedict XVI as “a great figure” who “aspired to the truth of God and to the truth of man,” leads you from a consideration of virtue in itself to a discussion of each of the key virtues that will make you holy and lead you to God.

Here you'll learn how to begin practicing the virtues and make them part of your daily routine. You'll also learn about:

• Envy, the hidden sin, even in the spiritually mature: how to fight it
• Courtesy: how good manners are spiritually vital to souls
• "What is truth?" The surprising answer to Pilate's question will transform you
• Patience: it's the prerequisite for all moral growth, and only the morally strong attain it
• Orderliness: not a moral virtue in itself, but lack of it may cost you your soul
• Why a sense of humor is so important — even to your spiritual health
• The strange contradiction in blaming God for the evil in the world
• Belief in “progress”: in our day it can be a form of idolatry
• The tyranny of justice: why so many justice movements turn unjust (knowing this is the key to our future as a society)
• Asceticism: it's not just for monks — without it, you may not be saved!
• Trashy movies: there's spiritual danger even in the ones that don't obviously glorify sin
• Why noise weakens the soul, and how silence is balm for your spiritual life
• Plus: many other topics to help you grow in the virtues that lead you to God!