Growing in virtue requires looking to heaven: Daily Mass Homily--Monday, April 7th, 2014

            Not your average reading for a Monday morning, both in length and in content!

            In Daniel 13 we see the contrast of the virtuous woman Susanna and the wicked elders.  To call these two wicked would actually be an understatement.  They fell to lust in their mind and then sought to act on this lust by taking advantage of Susanna when she was alone.  When she wouldn’t consent to their wicked desires, they then accused her of adultery, testifying under oath to have her stoned!

            This passage is incredible in its portrayal of lust against purity and shows a key point to any battle between vice and virtue.  Note how the elders and Susanna are contrasted.  When faced with temptation these wicked men “…suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep in mind just judgments.”  Yet the pure Susanna responded with virtue: “‘I am completely trapped,’ Susanna groaned.  ‘If I yield, it will be my death; if I refuse, I cannot escape your power.  Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt than to sin before the Lord.’” 

The RSV translation of the Bible adds another fact to the narrative, one that we did not hear this morning: “As she was veiled [at the trial], the wicked men ordered her to be unveiled, that they might feed upon her beauty.”  Yet Susanna was steadfast: “O eternal God, you know what is hidden and are aware of all things before they come to be: you know that they have testified falsely against me.  Here I am about to die, though I have done none of the things with which these wicked men have charged me…” 

This passage shows a key feature of growing in virtue to combat vice: looking to heaven.  We all face temptations.  We all have virtue and vice and there is a battle between the two in our very nature.  The elders did not seek God’s help in their temptation.  Susanna did.  The former were eventually condemned while Susanna found freedom through the wisdom of Daniel.

In our own lives, may we have the prudence and courage to always look to God in moments of temptation to grow in virtue and not succumb to vice.