Mulling things over

Here are the topics jumbled up in my mind and in my conversations the last couple of days (along with too little sleep and time to really sort them out):

What does it mean to have a rightly ordered heart? How do you order your heart? What is virtue, anyway?

And what about heroic virtue, the kind the Saints have? What does it really mean to become a Saint–is it all forcing yourself to do the right thing against your concupiscent desire to do otherwise?

How do we raise children to have heroic virtue? How much influence can we have over our children’s formation? Can you form true virtue through outside consequences? How do you make what is inside the heart more important and relevant than outside appearance? How do you reward virtue instead of rewarding the appearance of virtue? 

What role should the heart play in the Christian life? Does emotion have a role? What about suffering–when is it good, and when is it a sign we need to change something?

Anyway…lots of stuff. And I’ve read some John Bosco and some Benedict XIV as a result of all these conversations, so there’s some good material for cogitation!