not a showoff - st elizabeth of hungary 32nd week saturday 2018

A virtue becomes a virtue because it is done habitually, a firm disposition in the person to do good.  Virtue is habitual, it is persistent, it is a firm disposition to pursue the good at all times.  In other words it is the good that perseveres to the end.

This is the attitude taught to us by the woman in our gospel today.  We do not acquire the virtue of piety when we are prayerful once in a while or when we pray only if we feel like it.    It cannot be a virtue of charity and generosity when the giving is occasional or it is done because our sense of pity is aroused.  We cannot say we have acquired the virtue of obedience when we obey only the orders we like to obey.  To be a virtue it needs to endure whether it is easy or difficult, whether it is opposed or encouraged, whether it is rewarded or ignored, whether in public view or in the privacy of a room. It is not a virtue when it is done once in a while.

Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.   Do you know that after her death when it was proposed that she be canonised as a saint, the first to bear witness were her maids, the servants.  They were the first witnesses to her sanctity – not the parish priests, not the nobles, not even the poor she served, but the servants. It means that her holiness is real, her generosity is genuine, her holiness was consistent, she was not a showoff. Persistence.