In my previous column, I closed by indicating that I wanted to discuss a chief impediment to the virtues. Any ideas?

Because we are body/soul creatures, it would stand to reason that something in these areas impedes the virtues.

In the body, we experience many things (passions/hungers/pains/ecstasy, etc.) that impact the virtuous life. Clearly some of those are helpful. When our body is in excellent condition, we can order it more closely with the soul. When it is not, as far too often, there is war.

It’s not surprising that one of the many early heresies (lies) dealt with the body. Briefly, the Albigensians believed the spirit was created by God, while the body was created by an evil god, and that the spirit must be freed from the body. For example, having children was one of the greatest evils because it imprisoned another “spirit” in flesh. This, of course, is a lie.

Next, let’s look at the soul. In the soul resides our intellect, will and memory. This is where I believe the greatest battle for the virtuous life takes place. This is where the devil and his army fight to separate you from Jesus.

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:11-12)

I touched on the intellectual virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas, and one of the most notable words used was “truths.”  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) covers a great deal under the idea of truth, putting a large section under the Eighth Commandment.

We read in CCC 2467, “Man tends by nature toward the truth.” St. Thomas writes, “Men could not live with one another if there were not mutual confidence that they were being truthful to one another.”

Before Pilate, Christ proclaims that He “has come into the world to bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37) To bear witness to the truth necessarily implies that there is a war against the lie. We read in John 8:44 where Jesus refers to Satan as “a liar and the father of lies.”

What does it mean to be the “father of lies?” Part of what it means is he is so good at it, many times he is indistinguishable from the truth and plays into the war between our flesh and spirit.

“Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Read the temptation of Jesus in either Matthew 4:1-11 or Luke 4:1-12. Note the use of hunger, power and pride against Jesus. Also, note how in this case the devil uses and twists the truth.  He knows Scripture better than you.

We can take solace that Christ conquered sin and death, but the devil and his minions are still fighting for every soul. If one chooses to fight this battle solo, it will be a massacre. We are absolutely no match in spiritual warfare.

Lies plague us today and will tomorrow. Anything that is not true is a lie.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep.” (2 Peter 2:1-3)

What is the worst lie? Jesus seems to save his strongest statements for those committing hypocrisy. All three of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew 6:1-6, 23:13-36; Mark 7:6; Luke 6:42, 12:1, 56) cite his condemnation, with Matthew giving full voice. I would speculate Matthew gave more ink to it because he might have felt the condemnation of hypocrisy as a tax collector when he was called by Jesus.

Next column, I will cover more on the lie, the role ignorance plays and where the final arbiter resides.