Theresa Smart

Theresa Smart
Theresa Smart is a Thomas W. Smith Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University, having recently received a Ph.D. in Political Theory at Notre Dame. Her research is on the ethical and political thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Recent Posts

Cultivating docility, a lesson from Our Lady of Good Counsel

Posted by Theresa Smart on Apr 26, 2019 7:03:00 AM

Yesterday’s post discussed the human need for counsel on the path to heaven, an important point for today’s feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel. It is the virtue of docility, or “teachableness,” that opens our hearts and minds to receive counsel from prudent friends, mentors and teachers who are also seeking holiness.

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Topics: discipleship, prayer, Mary, saints, virtue, discernment

Cultivating docility, a virtue for life's decisions

Posted by Theresa Smart on Apr 25, 2019 7:04:00 AM

 

It is not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18).

The ol’ rugged individualism used to be a mark of American pride, but our culture is discovering the folly of self-reliance.

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Topics: discipleship, virtue, friendship, discernment

Why we sacrifice for Lent

Posted by Theresa Smart on Mar 13, 2019 7:15:00 AM

During Lent, the Church asks us to prepare for Christ’s passion and resurrection by making small sacrifices, traditionally in the form of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. But why do we sacrifice? What is a sacrifice, anyway?

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Topics: Lent, prayer, traditions, devotions

Longanimity: The virtue of waiting for God

Posted by Theresa Smart on Feb 11, 2019 7:02:00 AM

This cold and dreary season is a time of waiting. Snow has grown stale, and we’re waiting for the flowers to bud; the joy of Christmas has passed, and we’re waiting for the vitality of Easter. Yet the Church reminds us that this Ordinary Time between great feasts is precisely the time for the spiritual growth that flows from delving more deeply into the mystery of Christ. Thankfully, even the tedium of waiting itself can contribute to our spiritual life! To see how, we need look no further than the virtue of longanimity.

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Topics: discipleship, spirituality, virtue

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on uniting justice and love

Posted by Theresa Smart on Jan 21, 2019 12:02:33 PM

[We] bow together in grief before the shameful murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a unique apostle of the non-violent drive for justice.1

Today we echo the Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Jewish leaders who together honored Rev. King after his death in 1968, exhorting Americans to take up his mantle as “apostles of justice.” But especially given today’s tense political climate, we should also remember his refusal to sever justice from love. If King was an “apostle of justice,” it’s because he was all the more an “apostle of love.”

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Topics: Culture, discipleship, leadership, virtue, inspiration, holidays

Living and Handing on the Faith

The McGrath Institute Blog helps Catholics live and hand on their faith in Jesus Christ, especially in the family, home and parish, and cultivates and inspires everyday leaders to live out the fullness and richness of their faith in the simple, little ways that make up Church life.

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