INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES

I work on my thinking everyday because I want to develop my intellectual virtues .. Intellectual means working on ur mind Virtues good qualities a person has.

Intellectual virtues are the good qualities on ur thinking

Intellect is the power of spiritual cognition, of knowing nonmaterial reality. Intellectual virtues help the mind become a more efficient instrument of knowledge. While moral virtues prepare us for heaven, intellectual virtues help us to better use what we know, and thereby contribute to moral virtue. St. Thomas Aquinas taught that there are five intellectual virtues.

Speculative Intellectual Virtues

Practical Intellectual Virtues

Understanding

Art

Science

Prudence

Wisdom

Understanding

The gift of understanding gives to the mind of those who have it a charisma for apprehending Christs public revelation easily and profoundly. More specifically, the gift of understanding helps those who have it penetrate to the heart of revealed truth even when they do not fully understand its entire meaning. It gives great confidence in the revealed word of God and leads those who have it to reach true conclusions from revealed principles. Understanding is greater than faith. Faith is assent to the defined articles of Catholic teaching. Understanding goes farther because it gives insight into these defined articles of belief. The gift of wisdom exceeds the gift of understanding in that it shows us Gods perspective. Understanding is one of the seven gifts of the are: wisdom, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Understanding is also one of the five intellectual virtues. Holy Spirit. The others

Science Science is the habitual knowledge of the particular sciences, the habit of drawing conclusions by demonstration from first principles. Science is one of the five intellectual virtues.

Wisdom The gift of wisdom leads the soul of those who have it to see things from Gods perspective. Wisdom is fullness of knowledge through affinity for the divine, as when a person comes to know Christs Passion through suffering. It is also love, which inspires contemplative reflection on what we believe and directs the mind to judge according to its precepts. The gift of wisdom supplements the virtue of faith and shields us against folly. The virtue of charity is part of wisdom; it inspires contemplative reflection on the divine mysteries, enjoys thinking about them, and directs the mind to judge all things according to their right principles. Wisdom is distinct from faith. Faith is assent to the defined articles of Catholic belief. Wisdom goes farther to a certain divine penetration of these truths. Wisdom is first and highest among the seven gifts of the Holy are: understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Wisdom is also one of the five intellectual virtues. Art Art is the habit of knowing how to make things. It includes the mechanical and fine arts, and most of the liberal arts. Art is one of the five intellectual virtues. Spirit. The others

Prudence Prudence is correct knowledge of things to be done or avoided. Prudence resides in the intellect and is natural, that is, acquired by our own acts but also supernatural, infused with sanctifying grace. As an act of virtue, prudence requires three mental actions: taking counsel carefully with ourself and others, judging correctly from the evidence at hand, and directing the rest of our activity based on the norms we have established. Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues; the others are justice, temperance, and fortitude. Prudence is first among the cardinal virtues and guides the others by setting rule and measure, applying moral principles to particular cases. Prudence is also one of the five intellectual virtues.

Cardinal Virtues

There are four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. They are called cardinal (Latin: cardo, hinge) virtues because they are hinges on which all moral virtues depend. These are also called moral (Latin: mores, fixed values) because they govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to faith and reason. The cardinal or moral virtues are natural, because they can be achieved through human effort, aided by grace. The cardinal virtues are often paired with the theological virtues. The cardinal virtues are distinguished from the capital virtues. Justice Our constant and permanent determination to give everyone his or her rightful due. Justice is a habitual inclination of the will. The rights due to others are whatever belongs to a person as an individual as distinct from ourself. A sin against justice requires reparation. We are to compensate for the harm we have inflicted. The distinction between justice and charity is that justice distinguishes between the person practicing it and his neighbor. Charity treats our neighbor as our brother. Justice is one of the four cardinal virtues; the others are prudence, temperance, and fortitude. Temperance Temperance is the virtue that moderates the desire for pleasure. It regulates every form of enjoyment that comes from the exercise of human volition, and includes all those virtues, especially humility, that restrain the inordinate movements of our desires or appetites. In particular, temperance is the obverse of fortitude. Where fortitude limits rashness and fear in the case of major pain that threatens to unbalance human nature, temperance limits inordinate desire for major pleasures. Since pleasure follows from all natural activity, the most intense pleasure follows from the most natural activities, particularly the pleasures of food and drink, and of the marital act. Temperance is one of the four cardinal virtues; the others are prudence, justice, and fortitude. Temperance is also is one of the seven capital virtues. The others are humility, liberality, brotherly love, meekness, chastity, and diligence. They are called capital because all the virtues we strive to practice are said to flow from these seven capital virtues. Temperance is opposed to the capital sin of gluttony. Temperance is also related to the virtue of continence. Fortitude

Cardinal Virtue The virtue of fortitude, or courage, is firmness of spirit, steadiness of will in doing good despite obstacles in the performance of our daily duty. It suppresses inordinate fear and curbs recklessness. Because fortitude also moderates rashness, it is the special virtue of pioneers in any field. Fortitude is the obverse of temperance. Where temperance limits inordinate desire for major pleasures such as food and drink or the marital act, fortitude limits inordinate rashness and fear in the face of major pain that threatens to unbalance human nature. Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues; the others are prudence, justice, and temperance.

Gift of the Spirit The gift of fortitude brings to those who have it a dauntless spirit of resolution, firmness of mind, and indomitable will to persevere with a quiet faith in Gods providence that overcomes all obstacles. It also brings courage to persist in the practice of virtue despite trials, illness, persecution or external failure. A Catholic who becomes fervent in Gods service will soon be condemned by the world, but the gift of fortitude will sustain him as he walks toward the Cross. Fortitude is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. others

Theological Virtues Sanctifying grace infuses in us the theological (Greek: theos, to God) virtues of faith, hope and charity. They enter our soul as permanent habits or dispositions. They are not acquired by repetition of an act; God pours them directly into our soul. These virtues adapt our human faculties for participation in the divine nature. They are supernatural virtues because they cannot be achieved through human effort, but can come only from God. The theological virtues are often paired with the cardinal virtues.

Faith Faith is Heb 11:1 the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, our firm belief in God and all that He has revealed to us through Holy Mother Church. 1 Thes 2:13 When you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God. Faith resides in our intellect; we believe because God is all-knowing (cannot be deceived) and all-good (cannot deceive), so what He tells us is infallibly true. Our faith must be constant; the

apostle Thomas gave Jesus three years of faithful service, but we remember him for his one moment of doubt. Our faith must be complete. We completely submit our intellect and will to God. Our faith therefore illuminates our daily life. Our fallen race inherits from its first parents a propensity to sin, but our constant objective must be to live as Holy Mother Church teaches. We seek to live by the theological and cardinal virtues. We consciously avoid the seven capital sins. We go to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every day if possible, or every Sunday at minimum. We go to Confession every week if possible, or every month at minimum. We do all this because we have faith that the Catholic Church has Christs authority to teach us how to prepare for heaven. Our faith is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. We have faith only if we believe in Christs entire public revelation. The Catholic faith is faith that Christ instituted a divine institution, a Church blessed with authority to infallibly teach His public revelation. If we accept only doctrines consistent with our own experience we are not accepting them on faith but rather on human analysis. We begin our profession of faith, I believe or We believe when proclaiming the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed. Faith is one of the three theological virtues. The others are: hope and charity. The virtue of faith is also one of the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit. For a discussion of faith in the context of faith and works see justification. Hope Our desire for the kingdom of heaven, and our trust in Christs promises. Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Hope resides in the will; it keeps us from discouragement, sustains us during desolation, and opens our hearts to eternal beatitude. Gods almighty power, infinite goodness, and fidelity to His promises are the pillars of our hope that we will receive the grace necessary to reach heaven. Hope is one of the three theological virtues. The others are faith and charity.

Charity Charity is our love for God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus told His apostles, Jn 13:34 Love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. St. Paul told us, 1 Cor 13:13 Faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Charity is a gift to us from God, wrapped insanctifying grace. Charity, like hope, resides in the will. Charity is one of the three theological virtues. The others are faith and hope. Charity is also one of the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Article

Two:

Classification

Of

Virtues

Some virtues are intellectual, some are moral, some are theological. The intellectual virtues [1049] are five: three in the speculative order, namely, first principles, science, and wisdom, and two in the practical order, prudence [1050] and art. [1051]. Moral virtues are perfections, either of the will or of the sense appetite. In dividing them St. Thomas is guided by the ancient moralists, Aristotle, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine. All moral virtues are reduced to the four cardinal virtues: [1052] prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance. Prudence, though it is an intellectual virtue, is likewise a moral virtue, because it guides both the will and the sense appetite in finding the right means in attaining an end. Justice inclines the will to give everyone his due. Fortitude strengthens the irascible appetite against unreasonable fear. Temperance rules the concupiscible appetite. The theological virtues [1053] elevate our higher faculties, intellect and will, proportioning them to our supernatural end, that is, to God's own inner life. [1054] Faith makes us adhere supernaturally to what God has revealed. Hope, resting on His grace, tends to possess Him. Charity makes us love Him, more than ourselves, more than all else, because His infinite goodness is in itself lovable, and because He, both as Creator and as Father, loved us first. The theological virtues, therefore, are essentially supernatural and infused, by reason of their formal objects, which without them are simply inaccessible. By this same rule St. Thomas distinguishes the infused moral virtues from acquired moral virtues. [1055] This distinction, of capital importance yet too little known, must be emphasized. The acquired moral virtues do indeed incline us to what is in itself good, not merely to what is useful or delectable. They make man perfect as man. But they do not suffice to make man a God's child, who, guided by faith and Christian prudence, is to employ supernatural means for a supernatural end. Thus infused temperance, say, is specifically distinct from acquired temperance, as, to illustrate, a higher note on the key board is specifically distinct from the same note on a lower octave. Thus we distinguish Christian temperance from philosophic temperance, and evangelical poverty from the philosophic poverty of Crates. Acquired temperance, to continue with St. Thomas, [1056] differs from infused temperance in rule, object, and end. It observes the just medium in nourishment, so as not to harm health or occupation. Infused temperance observes a higher medium, so as to live like a child of God on his march to a life that is eternal and supernatural. It implies a more severe mortification, which chastises the body and reduces it to subjection, [1057] not merely to become a good citizen here below but rather a fellow citizen of the saints, a child in the family of God. [1058].

Vices are habits that turn us from God and incline us to evil. [1064] They have four sources: ignorance, more or less voluntary; passions, if unruled; pure malice, evidently more grave; the demon, who acts on the sense faculties to suggest evil. God can never be the cause of sin or moral disorder, though He is the first cause of the physical entity of the act which is morally sinful, [1065] and though, by the deserved withdrawal of grace, He allows the sinner to be blinded and hardened. From selfishness, the unregulated love of self, from what St. John called "concupiscence of the flesh, concupiscence of the eyes, and pride of life," come the seven capital sins, enumerated by St. Gregory in this order; vainglory, envy, wrath, avarice, sloth, gluttony, and lust. [1066] From these capital sins arise others, often more grave, hatred of God, for example, and despair, because man does not all at once reach complete perversity.