Protecting the Heart of Virtue: Free Will
This article will acquaint you with a wonderful title for tweens and youth called: The Treasure with a Face. It can be enjoyed by middle-grade readers or even as a read-aloud for younger children. It is a great example of a young boy in ancient times using his free will in virtuous ways.
But first, let’s explore why the exercise of free will is urgently important to protect - in the context of virtue? When considered in light of the ever more ruthless spiritual battle to ensnare souls in our current times, the connection looks clear to me.
See if you agree.
A Sinister Strategy
In modern times, our spiritual enemy seems focused less on directly flat-lining faith or vanquishing virtue. Over the centuries, the malevolent ones in the spiritual realm have been diligent students of human behavior. Too often through history, when faith was attacked head-on, martyrs were created - whose example fueled a deeper faith in others who followed after them. Even in the present, when evil tries to crush our efforts to behave with virtue, it often backfires and achieves the opposite result. The struggle can make us spiritually stronger. Currently, the tactics of the enemy seem more sophisticated. Now, the focus appears to be on incapacitating our free will. The demons are tempting our hearts and minds to gradually disable the the mechanism through which we choose God, love, and the goodness of virtue. This is a serious issue we need to consider.
How is FREE WILL undermined?
Our enemy attacks with two fisted blows, employing the tools of both technology and media to shut down our free will. You can observe the process in real time. Our global population spends increasing amounts of time on screens, scrolling, gaming, and virtual social interactions. In the process, we build internal patterns of passivity. We gradually allow more of our day to be filled with things we watch rather than things we do. This process weakens our free will because we are funneled into various user “experiences” that are spiritually empty and relationally distant. We are increasingly addicted, anxious, and isolated. Lots of time is spent in search of something…but the habit of continually seeking information or entertainment leaves us more disconnected from God and each other.
If you think this is not an urgent issue, consider the words of a powerful influencer who believes the age of humans using or needing free will is over: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NV0CtZga7qM.
As our technology habits slow down our impulse to think and act on our own, profiteers of corporate media then land the second punch - a tidal wave of media content manipulates our human longing for worth, joy, meaning, and relationship. Movies, messaging, and information management celebrates hive minded thought and obedience to a collective group or cause. Those who ask questions or choose faith-inspired values are mocked and marginalized. Those who act on or advocate for personal responsibility and traditional morality are isolated and “cancelled”.
Why is free will being TARGETED?
Perhaps, like me, you wonder: “What is the end game?” What purpose does it really serve to short circuit humanity’s wiring that empowers us: to freely choose to love, to embrace personal responsibility, and to be a conduit of God’s grace?
It seems personal. Like the deranged terrorists we see in this world, the evil ones attack the children to torment the Father. Our enemy wants to keep us out of heaven and away from the loving arms of God our Father. In passively paralyzing our ability to make - or even see - the choices between good and bad, God and goodness are kept out of view. We are enticed to build our own prison: a fortress of daily fortified self-focused habits, ensnaring our minds and hearts in a lukewarm haze.
What is the path to PROTECT free will?
So, how do we protect and train our own free will and that of our children and families? I see a three-part solution that will lead us to consider the book I referenced at the start of this article.
UNDERSTAND that there is power arrayed against us. Spiritual and emotional temptations are from forces outside of us. Then, it’s important that we acknowledge the damage caused as we cooperate with those forces, and cave in to the temptations. It harms us and our families.
EMBRACE the power of intentionality. The enemy uses media and technology to enslave our free will. Choosing intentional boundaries and habits in how we use those exact things is the path to freedom, authentic relationships and JOY.
DEPLOY the power of our secret weapon: the IMAGINATION. The enemy wants to devalue our imagination as a playground for selfish amusement. Our spiritual foe wants our imagination enslaved, sexualized, and synchronized with thoughts and images that ignore God, and make morality anything we like. But with God’s grace and our intentional choices, our imaginations can be renewed.
Empowering IMAGINATION: The Treasure With a Face
Stories that provide examples of characters exercising free will for love, faith and goodness are a powerful way to energize our imagination. They can strengthen our free will from deep inside us - because our imagination affects our DESIRE to exercise our free will for the good. A spiritually energized imagination can be the key that makes our good resolutions or our efforts toward self-discipline actually succeed.
In the book, Treasure With a Face, by Janeen Zaio, we get a great new story that exemplifies a young relatable character who demonstrates the power of exercising his free will choosing faith, hope and charity during his adventure. The writer effectively impacts the reader’s imagination because she shows us (not teaching or telling) HOW to live life with faith and virtue through his decisions and actions. My favorite section of the book is the way Eli spends his “sabbath rest”. I think boys will especially enjoy what Eli does to avoid working on the Sabbath. His internal struggle to do what is best in that situation, and in others, is a perfect portrait of how free will is the mechanism through which grace produces virtue in us. Even as an adult reading the book to review it, I found the character and the way he considered his choices, and chose to do what was good, rather than what was easy…was an inspiration to me to fight my own temptations toward passivity.
Here is the story description:
Twelve-year-old Eli lives in ancient Israel and dreams of being a treasure hunter instead of his uncle's metal-smithing apprentice. Uncle Shem is the kind of man who would tell Jesus that He walked on water the wrong way. When Uncle Shem reluctantly sends the boy on a 120-mile journey to Jerusalem to deliver a fragile mirror, it seems like an impossible mission for a clumsy apprentice. Eli resolves not only to redeem himself in the eyes of his uncle, but also to begin his life as a real treasure hunter. He aims to find nothing less than the Ark of the Covenant! Of course flames reportedly shoot out the bottom of the Ark, and people who touch it tend to die, but that's not going to deter Eli. When a mysterious stranger, who seems to share a secret past with Uncle Shem, gives Eli a worn Roman artifact, the boy never imagines how much he'll appreciate the object during the perilous journey ahead.
Jeanie Egolf, is the publishing partner who brought The Treasure with a Face to life. She is doing a great service through Perpetual Light Publishing, to produce titles like Janeen’s - for families who want to strengthen the desire for holiness in the children they love. The PLP published Tiny Virtue Heroes storybook series does the same for younger children. The animal or insect storytellers, as well as the spotlighted characters, exemplify heroic virtue, enable the children to imagine the value of it, and inspire them to desire it.
I’m always excited to find virtue-rich stories that are enjoyable for both middle grade or teen guys and girls. We need more stories that energize their imaginations with faith and virtue! If you have not discovered the authors and work of Catholic Teen Books, you are in for a treasure-trove of great titles that use the power of fun-to-read fiction to spiritually empower the imagination of youth. Here is what one of the Catholic Teen Books Authors said about Treasure With a Face.
The Treasure with a Face is a fun, middle-grade story with a fantastic main character. From the very first page, I knew Eli was someone I would enjoy going on an adventure with, and that is exactly what I did. Living in the middle east during the time of Jesus was not an easy time to be alive. Especially if you are a boy who longs to hunt for treasure but is stuck living and working for a difficult uncle. When Eli finally gets the chance for adventure, it is not at all what he expected. As he journeys to Jerusalem by order of his uncle, he hopes for a chance to meet Jesus. While the adventures he encounters along the way give him a taste of a life he longs for, he really hopes that Jesus will be able to give him the needed clue to find the treasure that the Jewish people have been searching for. But when he discovers that he’s too late and that Jesus has been killed, will all be lost, or will he discover that the greatest treasure is something that he never could have imagined?
- Catholic Teen Books Author: Leslea Wahl
Protecting the HEART of Virtue
With books like, Treasure With a Face, equipping us to use imagination to strengthen the free will of our children and our families - we can be confident in facing the enemy. Jesus Himself showed us through His simple yet powerful parables, that storytelling is the secret weapon to defeat even the most sophisticated tactics of our foe.
A newly emerging resource - a positive use of technology - that will power-up our free will through a well-equipped imagination is called VirtueSearch. It will be able to assist us in finding content to READ, WATCH and LISTEN to that is rated and recommended based on the everyday virtue demonstrated in a title. Check out the listing for The Treasure with a Face on VirtueSearch.com.