Hottest Fire

To truly grow in virtue, we must experience vice first. 

Vices test and challenge us, but they also give us opportunities to grow in virtue. 

We often think that because we suffer from a certain vice, we’re never going to be able to master the opposing virtue. 

I’m too impatient to be patient. I’m too sexual to live a chaste life. 

We think that virtues are something that we can only be born with. Sure, some people might have a more patient temperament naturally, but to truly grow in patience, we must be tested. We must experience impatience. 

Again, this is not an excuse to go out and test the ‘vice waters.’ We don’t need to — we all face vices. We’re all subjected to and tested by impatience, pride, lust...the list goes on. What does need to change is how we respond in these situations. 

After all, the hottest fire makes the strongest steel.