We all want good things. When we encounter something good—whether it be a type of food,
or a car, or a smartphone—our first question is often: Where can I get that?
Virtues are good things. A virtuous person possesses an undeniable appeal. Virtuous
persons can inspire us to pursue virtue ourselves. But this is where things become somewhat complex.
Unlike food, a car, or a smartphone, the virtues are not external, material things that I can
obtain and then place in my refrigerator, my garage, or my pocket. Virtues are things that
inhere inside of a person. In fact, human persons do not have virtues so much as they are virtuous.
And this is good news. Although multiple people cannot all have an individual smartphone at the
same time and to the same degree, everyone has the potential to be truly virtuous and to enjoy
the happy freedom that virtue provides. But where do we get virtue? Where does virtue come from?
What makes a person virtuous? In this video, we are going to look at the causes of the virtues.
We recall that the virtues perfect the human person—making both the person and the person’s
actions good. A virtue is a kind of habit—that is, a stable disposition that profoundly
qualifies (deeply characterizes) the human powers of knowing, willing, and feeling.
A virtuous person performs good actions because he or she is a good person. The type of actions
one performs are linked to type of person one is. We also recall that there are two broad categories
of virtue. There are, first of all, moral or “human” virtues. These virtues perfect the
human powers of knowing, willing, and feeling in a human way and on a human level. The most famous
examples of these virtues are the habits of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
These pivotal (or “cardinal”) virtues perfect the natural powers of knowing, willing,
and feeling in a way proportioned to natural human freedom and flourishing.
The second broad category of virtue is the theological or “God” virtues.
These virtues perfect—and extend—the human powers of knowing and willing beyond the human person
to God himself. These virtues operate on a supernatural level. There are three
theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. Let us now turn to the causes of these two
types of virtues. A natural cause of the moral (or human) virtues is the performance of good actions.
For example, take a man who interacts with others. Such a man encounters residential neighbors and
work colleagues on a regular basis. As a human being, this man, of course, has a will; and thus,
he has the potential to exercise his will justly in his dealings with others. If he acts justly—if
he gives to others that which they are owed, that which is their due—he eventually becomes a
just man. The man who acts justly with regularity eventually acquires the habit of justice in his
will. Why? Because through deliberate and repeated acts of justice he becomes accustomed—he becomes
habituated—to the form of justice. His will itself takes on the “just shape” of his just actions.
He becomes what he does. And because his actions are just, he becomes a just person.
Similarly, the man who acts temperately—the man who allows reason to guide his enjoyment
of physical pleasures like food and drink—eventually becomes a temperate man.
He is a man whose desires take on the virtuous shape—the liberating habit—of temperance. Through
deliberate and repeated acts of eating well and in healthy proportions (pursuing the good and
virtuous mean between excess [too much] and defect [too little]), the man becomes a temperate man.
In summary, the natural cause of moral virtue is the performance of good actions. The moral virtues
can be acquired through virtuous activity. The more good that we do, the more virtuous we become.
And the more virtuous we become, the more promptly, joyfully, and easily do
we perform good actions. We become what we do. There
is another type of virtue that no human action can instill in the soul of the person.
And these are the infused virtues—the virtues that direct and unite us to God.
God is the principal cause of the infused virtues. In the case of acquired virtues, repeated good
actions eventually yield a virtuous habit in the powers of the human soul. In the case of
infused virtues, however, this order is reversed. God first imparts—he first infuses—supernatural
virtues into the soul and then the person is able to act according to these theological virtues.
Why do we need infused supernatural virtues? As we discussed earlier, the acquired moral
virtues are habits that are “good” in relation to human goodness. The moral virtues are good
insofar as they perfect human nature on a natural level. In contrast, the infused virtues are
supernaturally “good”—they are good with a goodness beyond the proportion of human goodness.
God is the measure of supernatural goodness. And because the intimate life of God is beyond
the natural reach of the human powers of knowing and willing, only God can cause the theological
virtues in the powers of the human soul. Take the infused (theological) virtue of faith,
for example. No repeated acts of rigorous “thought” or even sympathetic “judgment” can
engender or cause the supernatural virtue of faith in the human intellect. We do not “come to faith”
in God after or because we have judged what he says to be true. Rather, God first imparts the
theological virtue of faith in the soul, and it is by this supernatural habit that we are enabled
to make acts of faith. The theological virtue of faith unites the human intellect to God.
Through faith we believe that what God reveals is true because it is God who reveals it. Our
mind must first be raised to God in order for us to believe something because of God. This is
what the infused virtue of faith does. In sum, the virtues perfect the human
person—making both the person and the person’s actions good. But there are two kinds of goodness.
There is natural (moral) goodness and there is supernatural (theological) goodness.
We can acquire the moral virtues through repeated good actions. In this way,
good actions are the cause of moral virtue in the human powers of knowing, willing, and feeling.
With regard to supernatural goodness—the goodness of God—however, no human action
can produce theologically proportioned virtues. Only God can cause—only God infuses—“his” virtues:
faith, hope, and charity. Therefore, repeated and deliberate good actions
can cause moral virtue. But only God can cause the infused virtues in the soul of the human person.
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