Developing Character Through Virtue and Vocation

Habits: The Foundation of Character

Habit: A habit is a quality acquired freely through the repetition of free acts. Habits can be good or bad, depending on whether the free acts bring us closer to or take us away from happiness. If they are good, we speak of virtues, and if they are bad, we speak of vices.

The Nature of Virtues and Vices

Virtue: A virtue is a good operative habit. Virtues are qualities that we freely acquire through repeated good acts. They allow us to get closer to happiness, to the extent that they are constantly full of intelligence—to see the good that the virtue is concerned with—and will, which desires that good.

Vice: A vice is a bad operative habit. Vices are also acquired qualities gained freely, but through evil actions. They lead us away from happiness and hinder the work of intelligence and the capacity of the will to overcome difficulties. We can recognize a flaw because it takes away something that belongs to us as a person. For example, a liar loses the ability to communicate and engage, both of which are specific to humans.

• Virtue = Good Habit = Repeating a good action many times, consciously and voluntarily = Habits that build and help build humanity.
• Vice = Bad Habit / Error = Repeating an action many times, consciously or unconsciously, voluntarily or involuntarily = A habit that destroys humanity.

Personality and the Cardinal Virtues

Personality: The set of individual characteristics that differentiate a person from others.

The Four Cardinal Virtues

• Prudence: The habit of doing good things correctly, or the correct use of reason in things you can do concretely.
• Temperance: The habit of moderating actions so that they do not exceed limits, especially those related to concupiscence or pleasure.
• Fortitude: The habit of dealing with difficulties and maintaining the rationality of acts even in the most complicated cases.
• Justice: The willingness to do what is right for others and give everyone their due.

Distinguishing Talent from Virtue

Talent is an ability or capacity to exercise an occupation. This is not elected, nor do we earn it; we merely have it. Unlike a virtue, we do not possess talent through effort. However, it does not assure us of any good results, but rather provides a facility for the eventual implementation of an activity. It does not appear until you put it into practice and has no value if we fail to make it a vocation.

The Meaning and Scope of Vocation

Vocation: Vocation (from the Latin voco, which means "I call") is a call made by our own intelligence, which must discern—taking into account the complexities of reality—how to maintain a certain kind of life and fulfill the requirements of the state we choose.

There are life vocations, such as the priesthood, monasticism, military life, or family life, and professional vocations, which cover a smaller area of our lives. These levels are not mutually exclusive; for example, a soldier may be a lawyer and a parent, or a priest can be an engineer or an economist.