Corpus Christi Blog

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, I would like to share an incredible story of sin, conversion, and mercy while highlighting some important lessons we can learn about God’s bottomless well of mercy.

Rudolf Hoess was born on November 25, 1901, in Baden-Baden, Germany, to devout Catholic parents. Influenced by his father's military background and strong moral compass, Rudolf was raised with discipline and a sense of duty. His father, hoping Rudolf would become a priest, consecrated him to God and took him on pilgrimages, including to Lourdes.

The opening ritual of the Easter Vigil Mass has profoundly meaningful symbolism. The church is darkened, representing the darkness and sadness of the Triduum and humanity’s long wait for the remedy to sin. Then, from the newly blessed fire outside, the deacon lights the Paschal candle — a tall pillar of wax — calling to mind the pillar of fire from the Old Testament, which served as a visible reminder to the Israelites of God’s presence and protection in the desert. The deacon raises it high at the church door, proclaiming, “The Light of Christ!” and we respond, “Thanks be to God!” As the flame passes from hand to hand, our own candles flicker to life, dispelling the darkness in the church. Just as light scatters darkness, Christ’s resurrection conquers the death introduced by sin, inviting us to new life.

After spending the last several weeks of Lent reflecting on the seven deadly vices according to St. Thomas Aquinas and how they lead us to sin, the hope is that our hearts have been moved to change our habits and behaviors into more virtuous ones. While these changes cannot take place without us putting in the work, we know it is not only by our own power that we become more holy, but also, and primarily, by the grace of God, who offers us his assistance. We have all the tools we need at our disposal: prayer, Scripture, the sacraments, the teachings of the magisterium, and the example of Jesus Christ. Now that we have reached Palm Sunday, we can enter into Holy Week reflecting on how the deadly sins and/or their opposing virtues show up in Scripture throughout the Passion narrative to provide us with a more vivid illustration of how they work in practice.

It is the final week of Lent before we enter Holy Week. Hopefully, most of us have had a fruitful Lent as we have been reflecting on the seven deadly sins or vices, as defined by St. Thomas Aquinas. Perhaps you have identified areas where you have room for improvement and experienced a conversion of heart (metanoia), which has challenged you to take steps to grow in virtue.

We have reached the fourth Sunday of Lent! On this journey through Lent, we have been working on the radical conversion of our heart, or metanoia, by examining the role vice plays in our lives and creating battle plans using practical advice from the book The Seven Deadly Sins: A Thomistic Guide to Vanquishing Vice and Sin by Kevin Vost, Psy.D. We have already covered sloth, envy, avarice, and vainglory. Now we’ll look at the next two vices in the list provided by St. Thomas Aquinas: gluttony and lust.

Welcome to the third Sunday of Lent! This year’s Lenten reflection series has been focused on facilitating metanoia (conversion) in our hearts and lives by rooting out sin. Drawing on wisdom from Kevin Vost’s book The Seven Deadly Sins: A Thomistic Guide to Vanquishing Vice and Sin, we are examining how we can, in a practical sense, combat sin in our lives and replace it with virtue. Last week, we covered sloth and envy. Hopefully, you have had a chance to see how those two vices may creep into your life and you practiced keeping them at bay over the last week. Now, we’ll look at two more vices.

Last week, we began our Lenten series with an introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas’ approach to the seven deadly sins and why he thought the sin of pride was in a category all its own. Now, we can begin diving into each of the seven deadly sins, or vices, individually and see how we might combat them in our own lives. Again, for this series, I am using practical insights from the book The Seven Deadly Sins: A Thomistic Guide to Vanquishing Vice and Sin by Kevin Vost, Psy.D.