“Trying My Best”

“Moderation is a good thing….. the avoidance of excess or extremes, especially in one’s behavior or political opinions.” Aristotle implied that moderation plays a vital role in all forms of moral excellence…”by finding the middle ground, we can cultivate virtues such as courage, generosity, and temperance, ultimately leading to a life of moral excellence”. The catechism says moderation (temperance) provides balance and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. (CCC:1809)

While it’s good to be extreme or complete or absolute in loving God and loving my neighbor, the virtue of moderation plays an important role in how I exercise that love. There’s a godly timing in the virtue of moderation. It seems it instructed Jesus in the garden when he decided NOT to call the legions of angels to come and crush Satan and his minions, but to live out the specific call from his father.(Mt. 26:53) 

Moderation helps us to avoid the  proverbial Rookie Mistakes (a basic mistake, that a person with no experience of an activity would make), as well as the “Old Fogy Paralysis Mistakes” (OFPM, where there’s a perpetual kicking of the can down the road…being cautious to the extreme.)

Okay Dave, is there a point to this BLOG…. any reason for talking about moderation? Well thank you for asking; now listen up. 

Fr. Sebastian White, editor of Magnificat Magazine, related that “it falls to the Catholic priest to speak about things he himself is still trying to live out. If I were to wait to speak about the importance of suffering nobly until I could have the satisfaction of feeling that I had become a master of the spiritual life, I would not be of much use to the people of God…so I simply share the truth I am trying my best to live by.” (Magnificat, March 2024 Editorial, p. 5) 

I found this a very helpful article. It seems we always can find ourselves with having to balance what we have learned and put into practice with what we can speak about. Truly I would never be able to open my mouth about the things of God if I needed to have worked them out perfectly in my life prior to speaking. At the same time, we need to have a balance that comes from “knowing what we don’t know”. While I have learned some things in my walk with Christ, there is so much more. I need moderation in how I share about this journey. But I still must share even at the risk of a “rookie mistake” or of a “OFPM”. (Old Fogy Paralysis Mistake) The virtue of moderation helps us to navigate these waters. 

I’m not sure this BLOG flows very well from the “teaching to the application”, but nevertheless, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us share with “moderation” about  the goodness of God, knowing that we’re still learning and there’s more to say. Amen.