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VirTrue - Helping Man Grow in Truth and Virtue

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by Jethro Higgins

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39 episodes

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VirTrue is a journey into the truth of who man is and how he’s meant to live. The root of “virtue” is vir—Latin for man. Before virtue meant moral excellence, virtus meant manliness, valor, strength. We can make it mean that again. As Christians bringing truth to the world, let’s model what a real man ought to be—not vicious, but virtuous. Let’s dive in together, and let iron sharpen iron. <a href="https://socialcatholic.substack.com/s/virtrue-grow-in-virtue?utm_medium=podcast">socialcatholic.substack.com</a>

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July 14, 2026

The Virtue of Fasting (Ieiunium) a Part of Temperance - VirTrue Episode 40

Every day your stomach tells you what to do: eat now, eat more, avoid discomfort. The world calls that freedom. Christ teaches the opposite. The person who cannot freely endure hunger is not free. Fasting is not about punishing the body but teaching it to serve the soul. And that’s why Fasting matters.🎙️ IntroductionWelcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the vituous life we’re all called to I’m your host Jethro HigginsToday on VirTrue we’re going ot be talking about the virtue of fasting or Ieiunium.Fasting is a sub-virtue of Temperance. God created food as a gift to be received with gratitude, not a master to be obeyed. By voluntarily accepting hunger for the love of God, we learn that true life is found not in satisfying every desire, but in ordering every desire toward Him.The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.🌾 Virtue DescriptionDefinitionFasting is the voluntary restraint of food according to right reason so that the appetites become subject to reason and the soul is disposed more perfectly for the things of God.Catechism:* CCC 1809 teaches that Temperance moderates the attraction of pleasures.* CCC 1434 identifies fasting, prayer, and almsgiving as the principal expressions of Christian penance.* CCC 2043 reminds us that the Church establishes seasons of fasting and penance for our spiritual good.St. Thomas Aquinas (ST II-II, Q.147)Fasting has three principal purposes:* To restrain the lusts of the flesh.* To elevate the mind to contemplation.* To make satisfaction for sin.Fasting is therefore not an end in itself. Hunger is not holiness. We fast so that our love for God becomes stronger than our desire for food.🍖 Vice of Deficiency: GluttonyDefinitionGluttony is the habit of allowing the appetite for food and drink to govern reason.What it looks like• Eating simply because food is available.• Constant snacking without need.• Becoming irritated when meals are delayed.• Living for comfort rather than gratitude.• Organizing life around cravings instead of charity.🪨 Vice of Excess: WillfulnessDefinitionWillfulness is the habit of subordinating right reason, obedience, and the will of God to one’s own determinations, using even good practices like fasting to serve oneself rather than God.What it looks like• Inventing harsher penances than obedience requires.• Fasting to prove personal discipline.• Believing God owes us because of our sacrifices.• Refusing moderation out of stubbornness.• Pursuing control or self-image instead of holiness.Pastoral NoteEating disorders deserve compassion and appropriate medical care. The vice of Willfulness concerns the deliberate moral habit of placing one’s own will above God’s, not the existence of psychological illness.<a target="_blank" href="https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life">👨 My Life</a>General fasting. We used to go to Skippers when I was a kid, and I would order the chicken strips and think of myself as fasting.Fasting is something we often do, even though we don’t understand. Very few people take the time to really ponder the importance of fasting. That was me until I did Exodus 90.I fasted because I was supposed to, but I really didn’t understand its value.Later, I took a class that focused on the sayings and the lives of the <a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3SOPtvJ">Desert Fathers</a>, and many of you will have heard before my experience with St. Theresa of Avila. God taught me the value of fasting.🌎 The Secular WorldModern culture swings between indulgence and self-perfection. One side says, ‘Feed every desire.’ The other says, ‘Master yourself for your own glory.’Christian fasting rejects both. We deny ourselves not because the body is evil, nor because the self is supreme, but because God alone deserves to reign over every appetite.Our world loves a false dichotomy. It looks at fasting as a battle between self-will and the appetites, but both forces are focused on pleasing our own will instead of the Father’s.👴 Example Saint: St. Anthony the GreatWhat it isSt. Anthony the Great (c. 251–356) is the Father of Desert Monasticism. After hearing Christ’s call to leave everything and follow Him, he gave away his possessions and embraced a life of prayer, fasting, manual labor, and spiritual combat in the Egyptian desert.Why he fitsAnthony’s fasting was never an end in itself. He denied himself so that nothing would stand between his soul and God. His discipline freed him for charity, wisdom, and deep communion with Christ.StoryThe Life of Anthony recounts his long struggle against temptation in the desert. Through prayer, fasting, and unwavering trust in God, he overcame repeated assaults without surrendering to either indulgence or pride.LegacyAnthony inspired the entire monastic movement. His life reminds Christians that fasting is not about extraordinary feats of self-denial but about becoming extraordinarily free to love God.⚔️ Act of FastingO my God, I firmly resolve to receive every meal with gratitude and every hunger with patience. I will not be ruled by my appetites or by my own will, but will freely deny myself out of love for You. May every fast become an act of obedience, every sacrifice an offering of charity, and every hunger remind me that You alone satisfy the deepest desires of my soul. Strengthen me with Your grace that I may persevere faithfully. Amen.🙏 PrayerLord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness.Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do.Amen.Go out and fill the world with virtue. Deus Vult!The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at <a href="https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe</a>

July 7, 2026

The Virtue of Silence (taciturnitas) a Part of Temperance - VirTrue Episode 39

🎙️ VirTrue: Silence (Taciturnitas)HookHave you ever noticed how uncomfortable silence has become?The moment the room grows quiet, we reach for our phones. We turn on the television. We start another podcast. We check our email. We speak just to fill the space.We’ve become afraid of silence because silence forces us to encounter something we’d rather avoid: ourselves.But here’s the surprising truth. The saints didn’t seek silence because they wanted less noise. They sought silence because they wanted more of God.The earliest Christian monks fled into the deserts of Egypt, not because they hated the world, but because they longed to hear the voice of God. What they discovered was unexpected. Their greatest obstacle wasn’t the sounds around them. It was the constant noise within them. Their thoughts. Their passions. Their fears. Their endless need to speak, react, defend themselves, and explain themselves.They learned that a man can spend an entire day without speaking a single word and still never experience silence.Because silence is not the absence of words.It is the stillness of a soul that has become quiet enough to receive God.And that’s why Silence matters.The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, become a paid subscriber today! 🎙️ WelcomeWelcome to VirTrue, where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to.Today we’re discussing Silence, or Taciturnitas, a sub-virtue of Temperance.At first glance, Silence seems almost too simple to deserve its own episode. We all know what silence is—or at least we think we do. We imagine someone who talks very little, avoids unnecessary conversation, or enjoys a quiet room.But St. Thomas Aquinas and the great spiritual masters point us toward something much deeper.Silence is not primarily about the mouth.It is about the soul.🌳 Virtue DescriptionSilence (Taciturnitas) is the virtue that cultivates interior stillness, freeing the soul to receive God attentively and to speak or remain silent according to the demands of prudence and charity.Notice that the goal is not silence itself.The goal is receptivity.Every virtue orders some part of the human person toward its proper end. Chastity orders our desires. Meekness orders our anger. Liberality orders our attachment to possessions.Silence orders our interior life.It quiets the constant stream of thoughts, reactions, anxieties, and self-expression that prevent us from hearing God clearly. As the soul becomes still, it becomes attentive. It begins to notice God’s presence, His providence, and the needs of those around it.Only then can speech become truly virtuous.A silent soul knows when words are needed.It also knows when they are not.St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that restraint in speech is praiseworthy because it prevents us from speaking when we ought not. But the purpose of this restraint is not muteness. It is charity. Our words should always be governed by reason and ordered toward the good of our neighbor.<a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3SOPtvJ">The Desert Fathers</a> understood this centuries before the scholastic theologians gave it a precise definition. They discovered that the greatest obstacle to hearing God was not the noise of the world, but the noise within the human heart.One day, the great Desert Father Arsenius the Great prayed,“Lord, teach me how to be saved.”According to the ancient tradition, he received this reply:“Flee, be silent, pray always; these are the roots of sinlessness.”Notice that silence is surrounded by movement toward God.It is not an escape from responsibility.It is a preparation for communion.Another Desert Father, Poemen, expressed the heart of this virtue with remarkable simplicity:“The man who speaks for God’s sake does well; but he who is silent for God’s sake also does well.”That single sentence captures the Christian understanding of Silence.The virtue is not measured by the number of words we speak.Nor is it measured by how long we remain quiet.The question is always:For whose sake?If we speak for God’s sake, our words become acts of charity.If we remain silent for God’s sake, our silence becomes an act of charity.But if we speak for ourselves, or remain silent for ourselves, we have already departed from the virtue.Silence is not the absence of words.It is the stillness of a soul that has become quiet enough to receive God.When the soul becomes quiet, something remarkable happens.Our words become fewer.Our listening becomes deeper.Our judgments become slower.Our charity becomes greater.St. Bernard of Clairvaux describes the perfection of the spiritual life as reaching the point where a person “loves himself only in God.”That is the destination of Silence.The quieter the soul becomes, the less occupied it is with itself.The more attentive it becomes to God.And the more available it becomes to its neighbor.True silence is never isolation.It is always ordered toward communion.The person who has learned true silence does not withdraw from others.He becomes more available to them.Because he has become quiet enough to receive God.Silence is not the absence of words.It is the absence of self.And that is why the saints sought silence—not to escape the world, but to become free enough to love it rightly.⚖️ Vice of Deficiency: Garrulity (Garrulitas)Every virtue has a deficiency and an excess.The deficiency of Silence is Garrulity.Garrulity is the vice of excessive and undisciplined speech by which a restless soul continually projects itself outward through unnecessary words.Notice that this vice is not measured by how many words a person speaks.Some people speak all day because their vocation requires it. A teacher, a parent, a priest, or a salesperson may spend hours in conversation without falling into Garrulity.The question is not, “How much do I speak?”The question is, “Why do I speak?”The garrulous person cannot bear silence.Every quiet moment must be filled.Every opinion must be expressed.Every story must be told.Every conversation somehow returns to himself.His tongue reveals what is happening within his soul.Interior restlessness.St. James warns us,“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, his religion is vain.” (James 1:26, NABRE)This is why the Desert Fathers were so cautious about unnecessary speech.Arsenius the Great famously said,“I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having remained silent.”He wasn’t condemning conversation.He wasn’t suggesting Christians should become antisocial.He simply understood that words, once spoken, cannot be recalled.Silence gives prudence time to govern charity.Garrulity never waits.What does it look like?It reacts.It interrupts.It exaggerates.It explains too much.It fills silence simply because silence feels uncomfortable.Today’s world rewards Garrulity.Social media teaches us that every thought deserves an audience.News cycles convince us we must have an opinion on every controversy.Our phones ensure we are almost never alone with our own thoughts.We’ve become addicted to constant expression.Yet the saints discovered something different.The soul grows by listening more than by speaking.Every unnecessary word is an opportunity lost to hear God.Every conversation dominated by self becomes a conversation that cannot fully receive another person.Garrulity is not merely talking too much.It is a symptom of a heart that has forgotten how to listen.⚖️ Vice of Excess: Philautia (φιλαυτία)Every virtue has a deficiency and an excess.If Garrulity scatters the soul outward, the opposite danger turns the soul inward.The Desert Fathers called this Philautia.Philautia is the disordered love of self by which a person turns inward, making even the spiritual life revolve around himself. Instead of receiving God so as to love his neighbor, he seeks to preserve his own interior comfort, mistaking self-absorption for contemplation and isolation for holiness.This vice is subtle because it often looks like Silence.The person speaks very little.He spends time alone.He appears calm.He appears disciplined.He even appears holy.But appearances can deceive.His silence is not the fruit of virtue.It is the fruit of self-love.He remains silent, not because prudence or charity call for silence, but because speaking would require him to leave the comfort of his own interior world. His silence protects himself from the demands that love places upon him.St. Bernard of Clairvaux describes the perfection of the spiritual life as reaching the point where a person “loves himself only in God.”Philautia reverses that order.Instead of loving himself only in God, the soul begins to love God only insofar as He serves the self.Prayer becomes about preserving my peace.Silence becomes about protecting my comfort.Solitude becomes about avoiding interruption.Even the spiritual life quietly begins to revolve around me.This is why Philautia can resemble Silence while being its opposite.What does it look like?It looks like stillness.It looks like recollection.It even looks like holiness.But it is not silent for God’s sake.It is silent for self.Philautia seeks silence, not to become more attentive to God, but to avoid anything that might disturb its own self-love. It withdraws into itself and mistakes that withdrawal for contemplation. It protects its own peace while neglecting the obligations of charity. It remains silent when encouragement should be offered, when truth should be spoken, when correction should be given, or when the Gospel should be proclaimed.The irony is profound.Garrulity cannot stop speaking because the self constantly pushes outward.Philautia refuses to speak because the self constantly protects itself.Both are ultimately occupied with the same thing.Themselves.Silence alone forgets itself.It receives God with humility.It speaks when charity requires speech.It remains silent when charity requires silence.In all things, it seeks not itself, but God.👤 <a target="_blank" href="https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life">My Life</a>* One of my favorite tactics for collaborating with teams is pregnant pauses.* I’m in desperate need of silence* <a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3PZMJKx">St. Theresa of Avila</a>* When I try to be silent, my mind races* Time* scripture meditation* <a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3SOPtvJ">Desert Fathers Abba Arsenius</a>* <a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/44UhRiB">The Jesus prayer</a>* I actually go into detail on this in <a target="_blank" href="https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life">the Social Catholic Rule of Life</a>🌍 The WorldOur world is drowning in noise.Never in human history have we had more ways to communicate, yet we struggle more than ever to truly listen.Every moment is filled with notifications, podcasts, music, social media, breaking news, advertisements, and endless commentary.We have become so accustomed to constant stimulation that many people feel anxious the moment everything becomes quiet.But the greatest danger isn’t the noise around us.It’s the noise within us.We have become conditioned to believe that every thought deserves to be expressed, every opinion deserves an audience, and every silence must be filled. We react before we reflect. We comment before we understand. We broadcast ourselves before we’ve listened to anyone else.Ironically, this constant outward expression leaves us more isolated than ever.At the same time, many people retreat into a different kind of silence. Rather than speaking the truth in love, they withdraw. They avoid difficult conversations. They refuse to challenge destructive behavior. They remain silent about their faith because they fear discomfort or rejection. They preserve their own peace while neglecting the good of their neighbor.Both extremes are rooted in the same problem.The self has become the center.Whether we are constantly speaking or constantly withdrawing, we remain occupied with ourselves.The world tells us that fulfillment comes from expressing ourselves.The Gospel teaches that fulfillment comes from forgetting ourselves.True silence is not about escaping people.It is about becoming free enough to love them.When we become quiet before God, we begin to notice the person who needs encouragement.The friend who needs correction.The child who simply needs someone to listen.The stranger waiting for someone to share the Gospel.Silence does not make us absent from the world.It prepares us to enter it with wisdom, charity, and peace.⭐ Example Saint: Arsenius the GreatIf anyone embodied the virtue of Silence, it was St. Arsenius the Great.Born into a distinguished Roman family in the fourth century, Arsenius became one of the most educated men of his generation. His wisdom and learning eventually led him to the imperial court, where he served as tutor to the sons of Emperor Theodosius I. He possessed influence, prestige, wealth, and every opportunity for worldly success.Yet he desired something greater.According to the ancient tradition, Arsenius prayed a simple prayer:“Lord, teach me how to be saved.”The answer he received changed the course of his life:“Flee, be silent, pray always; these are the roots of sinlessness.”Arsenius left the imperial court and entered the deserts of Egypt, where he spent the remainder of his life seeking God.His silence was never an escape from responsibility.It was a school of charity.People traveled enormous distances simply to hear a few words from him. Bishops, monks, and pilgrims sought his counsel because they recognized that his words carried extraordinary wisdom. His silence had purified his speech.One of his most famous sayings has echoed through Christian history:“I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having remained silent.”He understood that silence is not the absence of words.It is the discipline that gives words their weight.Arsenius did not become silent because he despised people.He became silent because he loved God.And because he loved God, every word he eventually spoke became an act of charity rather than an expression of himself.His life reminds us that the purpose of silence is never isolation.It is communion.Communion with God that overflows into love for our neighbor.St. Arsenius the Great, pray for us.The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, become a paid subscriber.🙏 Act of SilenceO my God,You created me not merely to speak, but to listen.I will quiet the noise within my soul so that I may receive Your voice with humility and attention.I will not fill every silence with my own thoughts, opinions, or words, but will allow prudence and charity to govern my speech.I will speak when truth must be proclaimed, when encouragement should be offered, when correction is an act of love, and when the Gospel must be shared.I will remain silent when my words would be vain, impulsive, prideful, or uncharitable.I will not mistake withdrawal for contemplation, nor protect my own comfort at the expense of my neighbor.I will seek the interior stillness that forgets itself in order to receive You more fully.May my silence become a place where Your Word can dwell, and may every word I speak thereafter be worthy of the One whom I have first learned to hear.Amen.🙏 Closing PrayerLord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us and all around us, and seal it with the precious blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we see, think, and do.Amen.Go out and fill the world with virtue. Deus Vult! Get full access to The Social Catholic at <a href="https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe</a>

June 30, 2026

The Virtue of Accommodation (Morigeratio) a Part of Temperance - VirTrue Episode 38

How many arguments have you had that never needed to happen?Not because someone was defending the truth.Not because justice was at stake.Not because anyone was protecting the innocent.Simply because neither person was willing to say,“You know what? Your way is fine.”Maybe it was how the dishwasher should be loaded.How the project should be organized.Where the family should eat dinner.Who should drive.How the furniture should be arranged.Most of the conflicts that strain our relationships aren’t fought over principles.They’re fought over preferences.On the other hand, maybe you’ve become the person who always says,“I don’t care.”“Whatever you want.”“It doesn’t matter to me.”Not because you’re especially charitable.But because making a decision feels like too much work.Or because disagreeing makes you uncomfortable.Or because it’s simply easier to let someone else decide.Accommodation isn’t about always getting your way.But it isn’t about never having a preference either.It is the freedom to hold your preferences lightly.To recognize that not every opinion deserves a debate.Not every preference deserves a victory.And not every inconvenience deserves a complaint.That’s harder than it sounds.Pride quietly whispers,“If I think it’s best, everyone else should too.”The saints learned something different.They learned that love often means letting someone else have their way.And that’s why Accommodation matters.The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, become a paid subscriber today.IntroWelcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to.I’m your host, Jethro Higgins.Today we’re discussing Accommodation, or Morigeratio, a virtue found on the branch of Temperance.Many of us are willing to defend our opinions with the same intensity we should reserve for defending the Gospel.Accommodation teaches us to recognize the difference.Virtue DescriptionAccommodation (Morigeratio) is the virtue by which a person willingly accommodates the legitimate preferences, customs, and needs of others whenever doing so does not compromise truth, justice, or charity.It orders our attachment to having things done our own way, subjecting personal preference to reason and charity. For this reason it belongs under Temperance, which moderates our desires so they remain governed by right reason.Not every disagreement concerns truth. Many situations present multiple good options. Accommodation allows us to recognize this and freely yield our own preference for the good of another.St. Paul writes, “No one should seek his own advantage, but that of his neighbor” (1 Corinthians 10:24, NABRE). Likewise, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3–4, NABRE).St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that human relationships require “a becoming order towards other men... so that they behave towards one another in a becoming manner.” Accommodation preserves that order by distinguishing principles, which must never be surrendered, from preferences, which often should be.When truth, justice, or charity is at stake, firmness is required. When only preference is involved, charity often asks us to yield. Accommodation teaches us to value people more than our own preferences.Vice of Deficiency: IntractabilityWhat It IsIntractability is the refusal to yield even in matters where no moral principle is at stake.The intractable person insists upon his own way.He resists compromise.He treats every disagreement as though it were a test of strength.Why It FitsAccommodation willingly yields when charity permits.Intractability refuses to yield at all.The accommodating person asks,“Does this really matter?”The intractable person asks,“Why should I change?”Relationships become exhausting because every preference becomes a contest.What It Looks Like* Refusing a reasonable compromise.* Insisting that everything be done your way.* Arguing over trivial matters.* Difficulty working in teams.* Correcting others unnecessarily.* Confusing stubbornness with strength.The deeper problem is not conviction.It is pride.Vice of Excess: PliancyWhat It IsPliancy is the habitual readiness to yield one’s own judgment, preferences, or convictions merely to avoid conflict, gain approval, or preserve comfort.The pliant person bends so easily that he eventually forgets when he ought to stand.Why It FitsAccommodation yields where principle allows.Pliancy yields whether principle allows or not.The accommodating person distinguishes between preferences and principles.The pliant person does not.He sacrifices truth in order to preserve peace.What It Looks Like* Avoiding difficult conversations.* Agreeing simply to end an argument.* Allowing stronger personalities to make every decision.* Remaining silent when correction is needed.* Changing convictions depending on the company.* Valuing comfort more than truth.Peace without truth is not Christian peace.It is merely the absence of conflict.<a target="_blank" href="https://socialcatholic.substack.com/i/203105380/my-life">My Life</a>I was intractable in my youth, and I still struggle with this a bit today.Primarily, this is because my family really enjoys a good discussion. It must be our Irish and Scottish blood!However, in efforts to be more pastoral, I have at times found myself being too pliant. It’s a hard balance when your personal preferences are so closely linked to following what is true and righteous. In the areas where our will is still unaligned as a result of concupiscence, we can sometimes miss the distinction between matters of preference and matters of fact.The Secular PerspectiveModern culture tends to celebrate whichever extreme is currently fashionable.Some people are praised for “never backing down.”Others are praised for “keeping everyone happy.”Neither is enough.Social media has trained us to treat every opinion as a moral issue.Every disagreement becomes a battle.Every preference becomes part of our identity.Every criticism becomes a personal attack.The result is a culture filled with unnecessary conflict.At the same time, many people have become so afraid of disagreement that they refuse to express any conviction at all.Truth becomes negotiable.Convictions become private.Peace becomes more important than honesty.The Christian rejects both extremes.We are called to stand firmly for what is true.But we are also called to surrender our own preferences whenever charity makes that possible.Accommodation reminds us that maturity is not measured by always getting our way.It is measured by knowing when our way simply doesn’t matter.Example Saint: St. John BerchmansLived1599–1621FromDiest, BelgiumMissionJesuit scholastic preparing for the priesthood.Why He FitsSt. John Berchmans never founded a religious order.He never governed a nation.He never became a bishop.He never performed extraordinary public miracles.His holiness was found in something far more ordinary.He became a saint through countless small acts of charity lived faithfully every day.As a Jesuit novice and scholastic, Berchmans became known for adapting himself to community life with remarkable generosity.He did not insist upon his own preferences.He gladly accepted the ordinary customs and routines of the house.He yielded personal comforts for the good of his brothers.Yet this willingness to accommodate others was never weakness.He remained deeply committed to truth, discipline, and fidelity to Christ.He knew the difference between yielding a preference and compromising a principle.His life demonstrates that holiness is often built through hundreds of unnoticed decisions to place others before ourselves.He is remembered for saying,“My greatest penance is the common life.”Those words reveal the heart of Accommodation.Living peacefully with other people requires dying to our own preferences over and over again.St. John Berchmans reminds us that extraordinary holiness is often hidden within ordinary acts of consideration.Act of AccommodationO my God,You have called me to love my neighbor more than my own preferences, and to seek peace without abandoning truth.I will not insist on having my own way when truth, justice, and charity are not at stake.I will hold my preferences lightly, gladly yielding them whenever doing so serves the good of another.I will distinguish between principles that must never be surrendered and preferences that need not divide us.I will neither cling stubbornly to my own opinions nor abandon what is right for the sake of comfort or approval.I will strive to preserve peace through humility, to serve others before myself, and to imitate the gentleness of Christ in all my relationships.With Your grace, may my desires be governed by reason, my reason by charity, and my charity always by love for You.Amen.PrayerLord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness.Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do.Amen.Go out and fill the world with virtue. Deus Vult!The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, become a paid subscriber today!Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at <a href="https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe</a>

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What is VirTrue - Helping Man Grow in Truth and Virtue?: VirTrue is a journey into the truth of who man is and how he’s meant to live. The root of “virtue” is vir—Latin for man. Before virtue meant moral excellence, virtus meant manliness, valor, strength. We can make it mean that again. As Christians bringing truth to the world, let’s model what a real man ought to be—not vicious, but virtuous. Let’s dive in together, and let iron sharpen iron. <a href="https://socialcatholic.substack.com/s/virtrue-grow-in-virtue?utm_medium=podcast">socialcatholic.substack.com</a>
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