Victory Over Vice (1939) is one of several books by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen exploring the Seven Last Words of Christ during His Crucifixion. In this short work, Archbishop Sheen considers each of the final utterances of Christ from the perspective of one of the capital sins. He demonstrates how each phrase proves the purity of Jesus Christ, and uses each as an instruction on how we, too, can overcome these mortal vices.
Archbishop Sheen is careful to define each of these sins and to explain when they cross from an acceptable behavior or trait into a dangerous failing. Envy, for example, can be justified and even helpful when it “inspires us to emulate good example and to progress with those who are our betters.” But it becomes a sin when it “is a willful grieving at another’s good, either spiritual or temporal, for the reason that it seems to diminish our own good.”
Throughout each of the Seven Words, Christ shows us how we should behave when faced with sin in ourselves or in others. When he is faced with the anger of the masses, he begs, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” When faced with the thief to the left who envies His Power, he instead turns to the thief on the right and pronounces that “This day thou shalt be with me in paradise.” When faced with the pride of those who have turned from God, “He permits Himself to feel God-lessness and it broke His heart in the saddest of all cries: ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’”
Faced with anger, envy, lust, pride, gluttony, sloth, and covetousness leading up to and throughout His death, Christ shows us how to respond to each in others and in ourselves. It is a simple matter to preach what we should do to avoid sin. But to see how Christ responded when faced with it, and avoided it in His own purity, is a true gift.
