Integrity

One of the things I most appreciated about life 50+ years ago was the integrity of people and how much trust they placed in each other. One of our neighbors was a high school classmate of my dad. They grew up together. Their farms were adjacent to each other. They had the same values. They trusted each other at their word. On one occasion, someone played a destructive prank on our property. This life-long friend of my dad questioned his two high school aged sons about it, but they denied having anything to do with it. A few days later our neighbor came to our farm place, along with his two sons, and with tears in his eyes had his boys apologize to my dad for what they had done. Rather than look the other way, this man taught his sons an important lesson in personal integrity, as well as lessons in humility, honesty, friendship and loyalty. None of this was lost on me as I saw the strength of manhood displayed in this man’s integrity.

Integrity, from the Latin word, integritas, means “the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.” In simple terms, having integrity means “coming from the whole person.” A person who lacks integrity is one who behaves or speaks in a manner that is inconsistent with the truth of who he is known to be. In other words, there is a consistency in one’s behavior that is true to whom we know them to be. People who live a double standard are those who say one thing but do another. This is inconsistent with what is known or understood about the person. Their behavior is unlike the whole of whom we know them to be.

Throughout our lives we must always work to maintain a high standard of integrity. Unless we continually strive for what is good, true, right and just, we could easily compromise the integrity of our character.  It would be very easy for us to lapse into behaviors that are incongruent with whom we claim to be. Thus, we must continually examine ourselves to ensure that we are being true to ourselves and consistent with our values and principles.   

An assessment of our own integrity might be taken by examining how we live the four cardinal virtues of justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance.  It is upon these four main virtues that the rest of the virtues are based. Justice is to give to God and to others what is their due. To God is due honor and glory and praise. To others is due our respect and love as we would love ourselves. A person of integrity actively strives to honor and please the Lord. It is his passion to be just and fair dealing with others. About the man who fears the Lord, Psalm 112: 4 says, “He is gracious, compassionate and righteous.”

The integrity of a prudent man is that he habitually acts with common sense. He knows when he should speak and when he should remain silent. He knows what action should be taken and to what extent he should engage in a particular behavior. He also perceives when he should refrain from something that would be questionable and inconsistent with his integrity. Prudence is the exercise of right judgment in every situation and takes place when one keeps the whole of the matter before his own eyes. Furthermore, integrity is regained when a person acknowledges their fault in some particular situation and makes new resolve to avoid what has led to this bad decision going forward.

The virtue of fortitude is to exercise courage in the face of every hardship or uncertainty, relying not on one’s own strength but trusting only in the Lord.  Fortitude is the courage to face tough stuff, to persevere through every difficulty.  But in a particular way, fortitude is the virtue that enables us to maintain moral and ethical integrity – to face the challenges of every circumstance with the integrity of choosing the right thing when the wrong thing would be easier. There are so many ways in which we might be tempted to compromise our moral integrity.  Fortitude is the virtue that enables us to put God first and to face temptations with an integrity that honors the Lord.

The virtue of temperance is to exercise self-control in any of the ways that we might be led to self-indulgence in our senses. The integrity of temperance is to know oneself and to know what leads to the near occasion of sin. Honesty with oneself, temperance enables a person to take the precautionary steps to maintain integrity when some imbalance of indulgence might “take us by surprise.” Temperance enables us to understand a particular temptation in our senses, not in insolation, but considering how this indulgence would be incongruous with the whole person we have, by grace, now come to be.

I have been blessed to know various people of outstanding integrity over the course of my 40+ years of priesthood. They consistently act and react to various matters, however serious or minor they may be, out of what I would call a “strength of character.” They know themselves and they behave accordingly. People of integrity inspire others by their virtue and their ability to remain steadfast in their principles when life’s challenges come at them. Friendship with a person of integrity is one of God’s finest blessings.

In these days of Lent, we might pray for an increase in the virtues of justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance, that we might live an integrated life and so ‘raise the bar’ of integrity in our world today.

Let me leave you with this...

On the martyrdom of Saint Polycarp, circa 155 AD

  “When the pyre was ready, Polycarp took off all his clothes and loosened his under-garment. He made an effort also to remove his shoes, though he had been unaccustomed to this for the faithful always vied with each other in their haste to touch his body. Even before his martyrdom he had received every mark of honor in tribute to his holiness of life.

   There and then he was surrounded by the material for the pyre.  When they tried to fasten him also with nails, he said: ‘Leave me as I am.  The one who gives me strength to endure the fire will also give me strength to stay quite still on the pyre, even without the precaution of your nails.’ So they did not fix him to the pyre with nails but only fastened him instead. Bound as he was, with hands behind his back, he stood like a mighty ram chosen out for sacrifice from a great flock, a worthy victim made ready to be offered to God.

   Looking up to heaven, he said: ‘Lord, almighty God, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have come to the knowledge of yourself, God of angels, of powers, of all creation, of all the race of saints who live in  your sight, I bless you for judging me worthy of this day, this hour, so that in the company of the martyrs I may share the cup of Christ, your anointed one, and so rise again to eternal life in soul and body, immortal through the power of the Holy Spirit.  May I be received among the martyrs in your presence today as a rich and pleasing sacrifice.  God of truth, stranger to falsehood, you have prepared this and revealed it to me and now you have fulfilled your promise.

   I praise you for all things, I bless you, I glorify you through the eternal priest of heaven, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son.  Through him be glory to you, together with him and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.’

   When he had said ‘Amen’ and finished the prayer, the officials at the pyre lit it.  But, when a great flame burst out, those of us privileged to see it witnessed a strange and wonderful thing. Indeed, we have been spared in order to tell the story to others.  Like a ship’s sail swelling in the wind, the flame became as it were a dome encircling the martyr’s body.  Surrounded by the fire, his body was like bread that is baked, or gold and silver white-hot in a furnace, not like flesh that has been burnt.  So sweet a fragrance came to us that it was like that of burning incense or some other costly and sweet-smelling gum.”

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