TH121 E RESPONDING TO GOD’S CALL BY BECOMING

FULLY HUMAN

Part I: WHAT KIND OF PERSONS DO WE WANT TO BE?

Chapter 2: The Vision in the Everyday: Virtues We Live Out

Objective: After this lesson, the student is able to comprehend “virtues”, its meaning, importance,
elements, and resources in becoming truly and fully human.

Introduction

Madalingmagingtao, mahirapmagpakatao. We heard this Filipino proverb in our previous topic.

Our vision to become human with fuller life needs to be put into action. This is what Jesus also taught us

– the kingdom or reign of God (the experience of kaginhawaan or salvation) will come into fruition

towards its fullness but it is already happening now in the way people deal with their lives and how they

relate with one another. How do we exercise our pagpapakatao? This chapter will help us understand and

start doing what we shall call “virtues.”

Let us “SEE”

Name : ___________________________________________
Time : ___________________________________________
Date : ___________________________________________

Seatwork #2: The Person I Want to Be

If a movie is to be made about you, what would its title be?

___________________________________________________________

1) How do you want to be portrayed in this movie? Give at least one or two
description/s of yourself.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

2) What habits, practices or actions should you develop to be the kind of person
you want in relation to the first and second questions? Identify at least three
(3) habits.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________
 Triad discussion: Find two classmates to share your answers to the questions with (15 minutes).
Each triad should have a secretary who must also be ready to report to the class in case they are called to
recite.

Class processing: Let us talk for a while about your experience in answering and sharing your
“movies”.
a) Was it easy or difficult to answer the questions? Why? What was the easiest or most difficult
to answer?
b) What were your bases for answering the questions? Or, how did you know or where did you
get those ideas or knowledge about yourself?
c) While listening to your classmates, what has been the impact or effect on you? What has this
exercise revealed about yourself?

Let us “DISCERN”

Do you remember the word “everyday” which we took up in Theology I, “Searching for God in
the World Today”? In that course, the “everyday” is “the whole of doing, thinking and feeling in our
daily lives and recurring routine.” Our class activity today, in the “See” part, leads us to discuss “virtues”
and its importance in our everyday living. As we explain this, look always at your answers of the
seatwork exercise.

Simply stated, a “virtue” is a good habit (“mabutinggawi”).

A person of virtue or a virtuous person (“mabutingtao”) is one who possesses good habits and
practices these in a consistent way in everyday living towards becoming a good person with the help of a
community and role models. Let us unpack and explain the elements of this definition of virtue.

A. Virtues as Good Habits in the Everyday

Virtues as good habits say a lot about the character or the kind of person one is. We are dealing
here about the “stuff” a person is made of. People act out virtues “naturally” because the virtues have
been “built or formed within” them, in the totality of their persons. When people say, “Natural ó likassa
akin naganyankumilos o gumalaw” (It’s natural to me to act that way…), they might be saying that they
have virtues or good habits which have become “natural” to them or a “routine” in their everyday life.

Virtues are demonstrated in the ordinary events of everyday life, such as in eating, talking,
sleeping, dressing, cleaning, washing, walking, riding public transportation, attending classes, relating
with parents, friends and teachers, and many more activities that are done in the everyday life.

Sometimes we display virtues in incidents that are not so ordinary, such as making spontaneous
or urgent responses in unusual situations (for example, when a person stumbles or falls down), in
accidents, calamities, or emergency situations. People who respond positively to these situations have
virtues or good habits that have been formed already throughout their lives.
 Virtues are also useful when we deal with “big issues and questions” like getting married or
remaining single, pursuing college or stopping schooling, having a child or not, separating from loved
ones, pre-marital sex, or electing political leaders.

These are important concerns, however, our being upright persons is not only measured by our
responses to “big issues and questions,” which does not come up often in our lives. What we propose
here in our course on “Responding to God’s Call…” is this: what it means “to be fully alive” can be and
is acquired and developed in our everyday life. It is how we respond to ordinary events in daily living that
embodies and expresses the kind of persons we are.

All our human actions tell who we are or what kind of persons we want to be. Since virtues are
good habits, they are actions or behaviors that make us good persons.

Let’s take as example the virtue of kindness (“kabaitan”) –

1. What actions or behaviors would demonstrate that the person is kind (“mabaitnatao”).
2. How would you know that the person is kind or “mabait”?

A person acts out or behaves in situations not because of some rules or duties he or she should
followbut he/she does good things because these are the right, appropriate or necessary behaviors. The
actions that flow from within are not impulses but they contain evaluation, assessment, or judgment.
They have been fashioned by many experiences of kindness that form the trait of the person.

B. Virtues as Habits are Practiced frequently and consistently

Virtues are not heavenly sent or in-born to us. One is not born as a caring person. One is a caring
person by molding himself or herself with actions that show he or she cares for other people. Virtues are
practices done frequently in our lives. Good habits are developed and nurtured through many tested
experiences and through time until they become part of who we are as persons. This is why the formation
of virtues or good habits should start at a very young age of a person.

As the person grows in life, a particular virtue, like kindness, is honed into good character trait.
Good character traits will allow a person to make the correct decisions later on in life. (Conscience plays
a role in the formation of virtues. We shall discuss this in Chapter 4 on “Human Freedom”.) This means
that continuous practice or exercise of the good habit is necessary in the formation of a virtue.

A virtue, like kindness, may begin as a practice learnt from parents or the family, but as the
person does it often, the virtue becomes a “practical wisdom.” –This means that one does good things
borne of the wisdom that they are the “right” or “correct” things to do as they were shaped and cultivated
by past practical everyday experiences.

Once again, how does a person develop virtues? Virtues are developed through learning and
through practice. Just as playing basketball or softball develops strength and patience through much
training and practice, so too does our capacity to be kind, to be fair, to be courageous or to be
compassionate. Indeed, practice makes perfect. When virtues are acquired and polished by constant
practice, they form the character of the person.

Now, look again at your answers for the third question in the seatwork exercise.

 Which of the habits or practices are you now doing or practicing? Can you give more
concrete behaviors on how you perform those habits that tell you who you are as a person?
Generally then, habits are behaviors or practices so ingrained in a person that it is often done
spontaneously because it has already been fashioned as integrally part of the person.

The opposite of virtues are “vices” or bad habits or bad character traits, like selfishness
(“pagkamakasarili”), vindictiveness (“mapaghiganti”), greed (“kasakiman”) or anger (“magalitin”).
The bad habits can destroy the person and often he or she affects other people in a negative way. Vices
also stand in the way of becoming a good person because the habits extend to other facets of life.

For example, a person who has a habit of drinking alcohol excessively cannot think logically and
his or her behaviors towards others may be irrational which can hurt the people he or she loves. Another
example would be that if one who has a habit of taking prohibited drugs can lead to behaviors of stealing
things or money to buy the drugs or to actions of lying to people. Extreme gambling brings about effects
that can ruin one’s life, work, and family. The trait of being “hot-tempered” (mainitinangulo) can create
behaviors of anger directed at anybody with no justifiable reason.

 Do you know of other “vices” of people and what do you observe as harmful in their
practices?

C. Virtues and the Desire to be a Good Person

There is another sense that virtues must be “consistently” lived out. What we do, how we act or
the habits we are developing must be consistent to our motivation or desire about ourselves. When we
speak of virtues, we ask three interrelated questions: what kind of person do I want to be? Where I now or
what is my character or what am are my traits? What habits or practices should I develop to be the kind of
person I want to be?

To act from virtue is to act from some particular motivation or towards some goal or direction.
Since virtues are good habits that are practiced consistently, the kind of persons we want to be is that of
being good persons. We desire certain outcomes and we want to accomplish certain goals by our actions.
The fundamental question in our everyday living is not "What should I do?" but "What kind of person
should I be?" We must ask ourselves, “If I do this or that action, what sort of a person am I or what kind
of person am I becoming?” This question is central in the formation of virtues or good habits.

For example, if I always study the lessons in my classes, what is the effect or impact of these
actions on my person? How will this shape the person I want to be? Remember, however, that for a virtue
to be a habit, the practice of regular, constant, and consistent studying must be done. A student may
manage his or her time daily, giving a few hours after school to continue studying at home or with
friends. On the other hand, if I keep on being absent or not attending classes, how is this shaping the kind
of person that I am or want to be? We are talking here of not going to school because one has to work
outside to support the family. There are many poor people who, despite their poverty, are diligent in their
studies. It’s another case if the student has no financial obstructions but keeps out of school because of
disinterest in studying or for any other reason. The question for this kind of person is: “Where are you
going in life?”

Virtues therefore are focused on the whole person, including his or her actions and motivations.
Unlike in other ways of understanding the human person that studies only the actions and its effects, the
development of virtues is all about the whole person, that is, his/her totality. In the fashioning of virtues
or good habits in the everyday, the person is motivated and directed to be a good person or a virtuous
person and flowing from it are the many actions and choices of good habits.
 In virtues, we look at the character of the person carrying out an action. We try to understand the
person holistically, instead of focusing on isolated actions. We look for repeated actions or patterns that
inform us of a person’s virtue, and accordingly, the kind of person he or she is. Conversely, the person
who is trying out good habits is not only informing us of specific behaviors but who he or she is as a
person.

 But what/who is a good person or a virtuous person?

Groups, cultures and religions may have different definitions of a good person. Despite the
differences however, there seems to be a common thread in humanity, that is, the desire to be good.
Scholars who have studied virtues say that there is a set of virtues that all human beings share and would
benefit from. We have heard of the “golden rule”: “Do not do unto others, what you do not want others to
do to you.” Or in a positive way, “Do good to others and others will do good to you.” This maxim is
found in almost all cultures and religions in the world, even if they are expressed differently in words.
The basic direction therefore is towards becoming good human beings.

We may not be completely aware that by performing good habits, we are developing virtues that
we consider important for our desire to be good persons. We don’t have to be a saint who does extra-
ordinary things. In fact, the saints might not have known that they would be admired for their ordinary
virtues later on when they are dead and gone.

As ordinary men and women, doing ordinary things in ordinary ways, we can possess a virtue
according to our particular situation in life, with our strengths and abilities. Each one of us wants to be a
good person but the habits we live out may be different from one another. When those habits that were
consistently practiced are called in urgent or emergency situations, sometimes we look at those actions as
“heroic.” But we have heard “heroic” people saying that they did not think nor plan their “heroism”. They
would say, “I just did what I thought was the right thing to do.” Now, that is a virtue! Their ordinary
habits became extra-ordinary acts.

 Do you know of individuals who displayed virtues in an extraordinary situation? What did
the person do?

D. Virtues and our calling to be truly and fully human

From a Christian point of view, we are called by God to be truly and fully human – “magingtotoo
at ganapnatao.” To be human is to be a good person. God created us out of His or Her goodness. He
desires nothing less than the goodness of our well-being, and His will for us is to experience the goodness
of life. St. Irenaeus, who we met in Chapter 1, reminds us that “The glory of God is the human fully
alive.”

This sounds simplistic but we know it is not easy to live by. Everyday we are faced by many
challenges to our person. We are pulled and pushed to different directions. Like walking, there are roads
opened before and we make choices which road is best for us. We are born humans but the task before us
is how to become “humane” or truly and fully human. “Madalingmagingtaoperomahirapmagpakatao.”

Previously, we learned that for Jesus, the road to our full humanity is the kingdom or reign of
God. This is the route to which we are called to walk by/with God, as well as the goal to which we are to
direct our lives. In the language of the Bible, “discipleship” is the road of “walk-the-talk”. Let’s us
remind ourselves that discipleship means to have an intimate relationship with Jesus and to follow his
ways, the ways of the kingdom or reign of God.

How then do we follow? By developing virtues or good habits that make us good persons. There
is an intrinsic relationship between virtues and God’s call to become truly and fully human. We strive to
be who we are as God has planned for us, that is, we are basically good persons. Our lives should be
patterned with practices that develop the goodness in us by manifesting it to others.

This calling or “vocation” to grow as good persons is foundational and it is the calling for
everyone. How we are going to express this calling will be different from person to person. Some will
express their being good persons in and through married or single life, through their professions or
occupation, and so forth.

Being a virtuous person (“mabutingtao”), moreover, is not about living out one particular habit
of acting. Rather, it means having a set of related virtues that enable a person to live and act well in a right
or correct manner. For example again, kindness (“kabaitan”) is like a “good virus” or “good cholesterol”
in us. It extends and affects other relationship dimensions of our lives. We are kind not only to our elders
and friends but also to strangers and even to people who do not like us.

We act out also our “kabaitan” to any situation or incident that we face in life. In a moment when
another person needs our help, our generosity is expressed into the related virtue of “pagdamay” or
sympathy, or to exert effort at the expense of our well-being, we display virtue of compassion or
“pagmamalasakit”.

The virtues of a person are like straws of a mat (banig). The virtues or straws intersect and weave
through each other, forming a coherent and consistent whole that is beautiful and attractive to the eyes of
other people. That’s the upshot of virtues. A virtuous person is a beautiful person. People know that we
are “mabaitnatao” by our actions (mabubutinggawi), and our actions express who we are within. It is in
the honing and perfecting of virtues that we become truly human (“magalingmakipagkapwa-tao”).

E. The Role of the Community and Models of Virtuous Living

We do not grow in isolation. We become humans within and by the communities to which we
belong, including family, religion, culture, church, school, and so forth. An active community is needed to
nurture and direct us in the virtues that we are living out.

For example, Adamson University articulates its core values in terms of the “5S”, namely, search
for excellence, spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, solidarity, social responsibility, and sustained integral
development. The school wants to mould its students to give witness to these values by developing good
habits. The individual student can try these out by himself or herself but the community of persons of
Adamson will be important in guiding and helping the student to acquire and develop good habits.

The community not only passes on the virtues to its members but also continually instills and
encourages the living out of the good habits by its members. The community becomes a nurturing
community, which has a collective vision and mission that are shared to its members so that they become
virtuous persons. The community is also a directing community that helps the members to evaluate,
correct, affirm, improve and strengthen their good habits.

In other words, a community is there to help us discern or decide what is good or bad, right or
wrong, correct or erroneous. Our personal motivation or desire to be good persons and the good habits
that we practice are nurtured and directed by the community which we are a part of. While we can do
good habits on our own, we need a community that is supportive, affirming, challenging and caring so
that we can improve ourselves and grow in maturity.

Within this community, there are individuals who serve as models or exemplars of virtuous
living. By the way they lived in ordinary ways, they developed good habits during their lifetime that
made them virtuous persons. We can be inspired by them and emulate or follow them so that we too can
be men and women of virtues.

In“Responding to God’s Call by Becoming Fully Human,” we shall take the Catholic Christian
community (or Catholic Church) as the community that nurtures and directs our virtues. In particular, the
Church has the Bible, teachings and practices that provide us with resources of virtues.

Central to our response to God’s call through virtues are the various stories and personalities in
the Bible, most especially Jesus of Nazareth. For us Christians, we believe that Jesus is the virtuous
person par excellence who embodied and expressed the virtues that are associated with the Kingdom or
Reign of God.
PinangatawananniHesusangsalitangDiyossapamamagitanngkanyanglubosnapagpapakatao. We shall
hear a lot about Jesus and other virtuous people in the Bible in our course.

In the history of the Church, several virtues were expounded. For example, St. Paul offered faith,
hope, and love or charity as gifts of grace from God. The object or aim of these three virtues is God or a
deeper relationship with God. Today, they are called “theological virtues.” St. Thomas of Aquinas
(1225-1274), the great theologian of the 13th century, identified four important virtues, namely, prudence,
justice, temperance and courage or fortitude. The four are sometimes called “cardinal virtues” because for
St. Thomas these virtues are at the foundation of the conduct or ways of living to be truly human or
“moral persons.” We shall present some of these virtues but they have to be re-interpreted for our time,
especially in a divided and wounded world.

The lives of the holy men and women, like St. Vincent de Paul and other saints and martyrs of
the Church are also good resources for virtues. These ordinary men and women practiced ordinary habits.
Perhaps what made them stood out, unique or distinct from other people of their time was the manner
they continually and consistently practiced the virtues they held as persons.

In particular, St. Vincent de Paul (“Lolo Enteng”), the patron saint of our university and all
charitable institutions, teaches us that,

 “It is not enough to do good; we must do it well.”

As a virtue, doing goodness must be carried out with excellence or perfection. For instance, when we help
people, we don’t simply help them, but we must help them efficiently and effectively. In studying, we
must study, not once, but regularly and everyday until we have a better comprehension of what we are
trying to understand. To put St. Vincent’s words in Filipino

 “Hindi sapatang ‘pwedena’; dapatmagaling at epektibotayosaatingmgaginagawa.”

That explains a virtue. It is a good habit that is practiced consistently to its perfection.

Besides the rich treasury of virtues in the Church, we shall also consult the Filipino and Asian
cultures about how to become a good person. We shall read their proverbs, folk tales, epics, songs,
poems, and recall their heroes and martyrs, through which they kept the memory of their answers to the
question, “What does it mean to be human and a true person”?

Let’s take this example of a proverb from the Mangyans, an indigenous tribe in the Philippines:

“Angbatonagumulong ay hindinilulumot.”
- “The stone that rolls does not gather moss.”

 First, what is the literal meaning of the proverb: stone… rolling… moss? What
actually happens when a stone does not roll? What does moss do? When the stone is
covered with moss, what happens to it
 Let’s look for applications or meanings in life - What do you think is the message of
the proverb about life? What is the relevant virtue or good habit expressed by the
proverb?

 What should you or we do in our life today, as students, so that we continue rolling
like a stone and not gather moss?
 In our course, even if we use primarily Filipino and Asian cultural resources, students from other
nationalities are invited to know the Asian ways of living and to share from their cultures the good habits
their people live out.

The formation of virtues or good habits is a lifelong process- from birth to death. We are
crafting ourselves into “new men and women” who respond to the call of God to life’s fuller humanity by
virtue of our acts of pagpapakatao. People say, “Old habits never die.” We can take this in a positive
tone. “Good” old habits never die.

Let us “ACT”

A. Summary
1) A virtue is good habit.
a) In acquiring virtues, we ask three interrelated questions: what kind of persons do we want to be?
Who or where are we now? And what should we do to be the person we want?
b) A person of virtues or a virtuous person is one who possesses and acts out good habits.
Good habits or virtues are practiced or exercised continually an
2) Good habits or virtues are practiced or exercised continually and consistently (this is why they are
“habits”). Good practices form or shape our character as good persons. Virtues make us who we
are as good persons.
3) For Christian, their calling from God is to grow as good persons. This is his or her motivation,
purpose or goal, because this is also what God desires for them.
4) We need a community that nurtures and directs our virtues or good habits. For Catholics and for
Adamsonian, as well, we have the church-community, with its structures, beliefs, and practices to
guide and help us to be virtuous persons with good habits.
a) We are informed and our virtues are formed with the aid of the stories and personalities in the
Bible, especially the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth, who wants us to follow his ways, that is,
his virtues.
b) There are also exemplars or role models in our Church to whom we can turn to in developing
good practices so that we become men and women of goodness. These are the saints and martyrs
of the Church, particularly St. Vincent de Paul and the many virtuous persons.
c) We can also learn virtues or good practices from our cultures and in their reflections of what it
means to be a good person.

B. Announcement– A quiz (cognitive/knowledge, multiple-choice type) will be given next meeting to

test your knowledge on Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

C. Assignment - In the Adamsonian Prayer, we find several virtues which are underlined below:

Dear Lord,

Teach me the things that are important:

To be generous withYour gifts,
Compassionate to those who have less,
Just in the face of unfair circumstances,
True when the world's values contradict my own,
Gracious when things don't go my way,
And magnanimous when they do.

May nothing else matter

Except Faith in Your goodness, my neighbor's, and mine,
Hope that things can get better,
And Charity that always set things right.
 May your special Love for the Poor,
The mark of my uniquely Vincentian education,
Be the work I excel in,
The standard I constantly refer to,
And my courage when I meet you someday.

With Mary, our Mother, and St. Vincent de Paul, Amen.

Name : ___________________________________________
Time : ___________________________________________
Date : ___________________________________________

1) Which one (1) of the virtues do you want to possess as a person this semester?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

2) Read any of the Gospels. Look for one story in which Jesus demonstrated or taught the virtue you
also want to acquire and develop? Re-write or re-tell the story in your own words.
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________

3) What concrete or specific practices (actions or behaviors) should I do frequently and consistently
during this semester in order to express the virtue I have chosen for myself? Cite three (3) practices.
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________

4) What is your two (2) most important and relevant learning’s or insights about “Virtues” in this lesson.
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
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_____________________
References:

Hurka, Thomas. Virtue, Vice, and Value. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Hursthouse, Rosalind. On Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Keenan, James F. Virtues for Ordinary Christians. Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 2001.
Kotva, Joseph. The Christian Case for Virtue Ethics. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press,
1996.
MacIntyre, Alistair. After Virtue: A Study of Moral Theory. Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press,
1981.
Mahoney, John. The Making of Moral Theology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.
Spohn, Williams C. “The Return of Virtue Ethics.” Theological Studies 53 (1992): 60-75.
“Virtue Ethics,” Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003, at http://www.science.uva.nl/ ~seop
/archives/spr2007/entries/ethics-virtue/