The virtue of Religion Essays - Spirituality, Human Behavior

The virtue of Religion Religion comes from the Latin verb religre, to bind , so that we in religi on are bound to God . Religion implies that there is a supreme being that has control over our destinies and the universe. It implies se condly that man has recogn ized that there is such a being, and that he needs H is help, and that he freely subjects his life to Him by acts of homage and love which is to worship Him. When we do this habitually we possess the virtue of religion. Religion as a virtue is a, "Quality of mind and heart which inclines us to pay to God the worship due to Him." The object, motive, and act are the three elements in the notion of re ligion. God is the object. The Blessed V irgin and saints are all secondary to him becau se of their nearness to Him. Our motive is our complete dependence on God. Worship is the act of religion and we worship Him by our love and devotion. We have a strict duty to worship God becaus e he is our creato r; t herefore , H e has the right to demand our love, honor, reverence , and complete submission . We owe G od our int ernal as wel l as our external worship . Without external worship internal worship soon becomes extinct . External worship is saying prayers and not thinking about them which means nothing to God. When we put them bo th together it is very powerful, but saying prayers externally is good because it keeps us in the habit. Sometimes we express our external pray ers to arouse our internal prayer s , and we need to express pray er external ly to arouse others around us. When we utilize the sacrifices of the mass and the sacraments God wants us to profess them externally and internally. There are two different k inds of prayer, direct and indirect. When we pray directly to God th at is a direct act of religion; a n indirect act of religion is when we honor him through the saints. Direct acts of religion Prayer is an act of worship, and prayer is defined as raising our minds and hearts to God. Prayer is the simplest kind of worship. Prayer may be vocal or mental; it is vocal wh en we speak it aloud, or it can be mental when we meditate . The act of mental pray er is not necessary but it is very powerful and it will advance us in virtue. There are four great objections of prayer; adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and contrition. The most valuable act to God is adoration because it is purely love for God. Thanksgiving is giving thanks to God for whatever he has done for us . Petition is asking God to do something for us. It is the most used prayer. We do contrition when we have offended God so that we may be forgiven . The world around us isn't regulated by chance and fate ; i t is by the power and mercy of God. That is why we pray to God for rain or anything else that we need to happen in our daily lives. We pray to God not that he does not know what we need, but because He wants us to pray to Him. He expresses this wish in (Matt. 6, 32), "Your Father knoweth that you have need of these things," yet He also told us "that we ought always to pray and not to faint," (Luke 18, 1). St. Augustine says that we may pray for whatever we lawfully desire, and he also said that we should pray for all men. If someone wants to help someone then t he most powerful thing that he can do is pray for them. We are never allowed to not pray for our enemies . God counsels us on our prayers, and He says "Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you." Since prayer is speaking to God we should pray with attention and devotion. Merely speak ing words is not a prayer, we should have