Explain That, Scientific Community! Part II

We have seen for ourselves that at our worst we are worse than animals. For when man stoops to his basest levels and gives into his most dark temptations, the result is general mayhem, murder and mutilation, as the soul, created good by God becomes drenched in vice and the bitter sting of sin. But wait! That is not the full story of humankind! Man is not mysterious just because of his capacity to commit random acts of gross evil! Man has been redeemed and is always capable of choosing Good! Even more so when he beseeches God's Grace! Man is as mysterious for his ability to sacrifice his own needs for his kind as he is for sacrificing everyone elses needs for his own.

Unfortunately for the stridently atheistic department of the scientific community, the man most famous for doing just this, for acting totally contrary to His own interests in this World for the sake of all of mankind was no ordinary man. That Man was God, the Second Person of the Trinity, Our Lord Jesus Christ. He made love and self-sacrifice not only fashionable for many, but widely popular by his Miraculous Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension into Glory. Although we have always had the ability and fondness for heroic self-sacrifice, the followers of Our Lord Jesus Christ seemed to make this virtue the hallmark of their existence, even unto shedding their blood both for Christ and the early Christian Community as a whole.

So then, scientific community, explain the lives of heroic virtue which give humanity a light in the darkness, a chink of hope in a fallen World, lives that lead to both the great and the good, the not so great and not so good, and even The Sun newspaper to say, "Ah! The World will miss him!" like they did when the late and Great Pope John Paul II died. For each of the capital sins has an opposite virtue which has shone in the hearts of many a man and woman, virtues which have led to them being honoured with the title, Saint.

1. Humility. Oh humility! Precious gem of a virtue, more priceless than emeralds and rubies, than gold and silver! How sweet you are and how unlikely I will ever attain you in the blindness of my sin! The opposite virtue to the sin of Pride, the quality of humility shines like a pearl on a dark ocean bed! With what humility did the Lord receive His Cross? With what humility did Blessed Teresa of Calcutta receive in her arms the poor, the dying, the starving and forsaken of the Indian slums? With what humility did Pope Benedict XVI take upon himself the awesome responsibility of assuming the Throne of St Peter and issue Summorum Pontificum, seeking enthusiastic acquiescence of the Traditional Latin Mass from his stubborn Bishops and Clergy? With what humility did St Francis of Assisi teach all of nature to sing God's praises, to renounce his possessions, to love the outcasts and the lepers and ultimately, to receive the Stigmata of Our Lord? Can science explain this virtue when it shines in the hearts of the followers of Christ? It cannot, for those who seek to imitate Christ will always confound the World, for they are swimming against the tide, the rising tide of evil, reductionist, hopeless, inhumane, scientific drivel and nonsense! For proof see the Human Embryology and Fertilisation legislation...

2. Temperance. Explain that! Someone, please, because I can't! Why would anyone want to forego great food, fine wines, fancy meals out and a bottle of champagne every now and then? Why would anyone want to forego anything and deny themselves anything but for the love of God? Greed is good, right? Greed is good?! Look at the economy now! Is Greed really good? Let the banks lend, lend, lend at extortionate rates of interest! Let the people buy, buy, buy goods and even houses on credit, at extortionate rates of interest and sod the consequences! What the Church has always said of usury is now biting the World on the arse! If Greed is really good then how come people are being made redundant most everywhere and are having their houses repossessed left, right and centre. If Greed is a virtue and Temperance a vice then how come the poor are still lining up for the soup run day after day? Really, would you credit it?! No pun intended. Then, O atheistic scientists, look at the temperance in all things of St Jean Vianney, Patron of Priests, in this, the Year for Priests, 2009, a model for us all, Priest or Layperson. All he owned, it seems, was a pair of old boots. See how he was moderate in all things, all things, that is, but...

3. Charity. O atheistic scienticts! From whence does Charity, from whence does Love come, if it comes not from God? Can there be any other source of Love but Love Himself!? Love came into the World in the womb of the Virgin. Love then taught us to how to love! Love then died for us that we may seek Love Himself! Then did appear Love's followers even after the Apostles. A Cloud of Witnesses bearing witness to Love, that is, God! The awesome power of Love which filled the Virgin to be the Mother of God drove too the early Saints and Martyrs to renounce their earthly ambitions and to die for the love of Christ. Then Love drove men and women to establish monasteries, to establish Christendom itself so that they too may die to themselves and live for Love.

What motivated those venerated by Holy Mother Church to live not for themselves any longer, but for God and their brothers and sisters, for the poorest and weakest and those modern science deems unfavoured, if it were not Charity? What motivated Blessed Teresa of Calcutta? What motivated St Francis of Assisi, his followers and St Clare? What motivated St Augustine to stop shagging around and embrace the Catholic Faith? What motivated his mother, St Monica to pray for it? What motivated St Anthony of Padua to preach and love the Poor? What motivated St Pio of Pietrelicina? It was Love, it was the Light of the World and the scientists have not comprehended it! But then how could they, since they are mostly geeks?  Ah, you may be able to cure all manner of diseases, you may be able to clone badgers, but if you have not Love you begin to sound either like a clashing gong, or a crashing bore, like me, if I don't shut up...Oh yes, that'll learn you, good and proper!

4. Diligence. O scientists! Think about those who work really, really hard. Even if you are a scientist who works really, really hard, whether it be on trying to discover the 'God Particle' despite your rabid atheism, or even on a cure for cancer. Oh come on! Even you, you who work really really hard have days when you just can't be arsed! And then, even if you work all your life on experiments, remember that even when you have your 'eureka' moment and realise the exact amount of time it takes for the mouse to remember in which box it left the cheese, that it will have profitted the World nothing. Then think of those who worked really, really hard to, err...build Cathedrals! That was blood, sweat and tears mate! Oh yes! What motivated them?! Aha! I'll tell you...

5. Patience is a virtue. 

6. Kindness. The opposite Virtue to the sin of Envy, Kindness wishes well to all, never covets and always wants good for the other. Explain kindness, heartfelt kindness, you atheistic scientific muthas! Do other animals send flowers or sympathy cards, even really naff ones, when one of their other animal's relatives passes away? Do other animals go over to someone who looks a bit down and say, "Here, listen son, chin up. Things will get better and you'll be right as rain tomorrow. Carry on, son, don't quit." How can you explain, without recourse to the Virtues why someone would want to talk a suicidal person from topping himself on the Thames bridge? Is this in the behaviour of other species? Can you explain this, really? No, I guess its just a blip in the 'selfish gene'! If life is just a 'survival of the fittest' then why would anyone want to walk an old granny across the road, nevermind a holy nun want set up an entire rest home so that old grannies can be looked after once they're too old and frail to look after themselves and their sons and daughters want their inheritance, while eagerly looking forward to the day assisted suicide becomes legal? Maybe those graced with Kindness rather than steeped in Envy are inspired by the Holy Spirit, Whom we cannot see but for the actions of those who believe and yes, too, in those who do not, like so many of the Virtues, for indeed, God works through all.

7.  Chastity. O Chastity! You are probably wonderful! May you and I embrace as soon as is humanly possible! May I walk with you down the promenade, hold your hand and sing songs to your sweetness and your odour. O Chastity! I know that most likely I'll miss our appointment tonight but I know that you are most likely radiant and pure, shining like white linen after a box of Daz! O Chastity, I know that you and I do not always see eye to eye, yet look not upon me, but those who truly loved you, you beautiful virtue, you.

Now, behold, scientists, those souls who loved Chastity. The holy monks, the holy priests and the odd Bishop here or there. Look at St Anthony of Padua who honoured her, at St Francis, who would sooner throw himself into a thorn bush than give into himself and spurn her! Look at the Holy Virgins of the Church, like St Lucy and St Agnes who would sooner die than commit mortal sin? What motivated them to live lives of purity and holiness? It was Chastity, the gift of God, the gift of Love Himself. Do other species embrace Chastity and swing her around in their arms without even fondling her? No! Can science explain these phenomena? No! For these gifts, they all come from God! Let those who are able and graced embrace her gladly. Let those who cannot, admire her from afar and write her love letters!

Yes, O atheistic scientists. We have seen the Deadly Vices. We know them well ourselves, for we have all fallen short of the Glory of God. But the Virtues too are bestowed upon the human race as well by God, the Most High, so that we may see Him in others, and see Him especially in those graced by Him the most, in His Saints, the inheritance of which the human race has been called to share. Explain that!