Virtus In Medio Stat

Written 2 April 2010 For the past two years or so, the spine of one particular book had been looking back at me from the same place on the shelf I had placed it after I bought it. Like many books on my shelves, I had read small parts of it before it was placed on the "queue" to be read at a later time. The book is titled Real Life, Real Love by Father Alberto Cutie, who was at the time a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Miami. An interesting last name, especially if you don't notice the accent mark on the "e", considering the news that broke in early 2009 when he was caught on the beaches of Miami with his mistress of a few years. After reading about all that last year, it almost surely placed this book, in my mind, on the bottom of the list to be read from my collection. Since then, and hearing of other stories of other "orthodox" priests, at least seemingly or publicly, it created a sort of "loss of faith", to some degree, fo...

"Most of us live out our lives with a false picture of ourselves which we will not surrender; we dread the pain of finding ourselves less noble than we like to believe. We strain reality through a sieve of self-love, keeping out whatever truth would hurt us."   ~ Fulton J. Sheen, Way to Happiness , p. 160

"Let those who call themselves Catholics, Protestants, or Jews recall that the function of their religion is to intensify the spiritual life of man and not to empty the vials of bitterness into hearts, stirring up one against another. . . Religion must not be a cloak covering the dagger of hate!"    ~ Fulton J. Sheen, Way to Happiness , p. 158

"Perfection is being, not doing; it is not to affect an act but to achieve a character. There is nothing that makes life unhappier than its meaninglessness, and life is devoid of meaning only when it is without purpose."   ~ Fulton J. Sheen, Way To Happiness , p. 148

"The secret of a happy life is the moderation of our pleasures in exchange for an increase of joy. . . The Savior of the world Himself told us that the best joys come only after we have purchased them by prayer and fasting: we must give up our copper pennies first, out of love for Him, and He will pay us back in pieces of gold, in joy and ecstasy."   ~ Fulton J. Sheen, Way to Happiness , p. 22, 24  

"The world is far from God, but human hearts are not. That is why peace will come less from political changes than from man himself, who, driven to take refuge within his own soul from the turmoil without, will be lifted above himself to the happiness for which he was made." ~ Fulton J. Sheen, Way to Happiness , p. 19

"The overemphasis on politics today is an indication that people are governed, rather than governing. The complexities of our civilization force us to organize into larger and larger units; we have become so intent on governing what is outside of us that we neglect to govern our own selves. Yet the key to social betterment is always to be found in personal betterment. Remake man and you remake his world. We gravely need to restore to man his self-respect and to give him his appropriate honor: this will keep him from bowing cravenly before those who threaten to enslave him, and it will give him the courage to defend the right, alone if need be, when the world is wrong."   ~ Fulton J. Sheen, Way to Happiness , p. vii-viii