CV NEWS FEED // Supreme Knight of Columbus Patrick Kelly this month wrote to fellow knights about the importance of the virtue of magnanimity in leadership, especially in leading one’s family.
Describing magnanimity “as a largeness or greatness of heart,” Kelly wrote that the virtue “orients us toward using our gifts in service to others. It gives us the desire to aspire to great things with the time God has given us on earth.”
He added that magnanimity is an essential virtue for men to effectively lead their families and others, as it provides a clear mission and purpose.
“It keeps us focused on striving for the highest ideals and helps us avoid the traps and snares set for us by the evil one,” he continued. “Whereas pride and presumption lead to envy, jealousy, rivalries and a host of other small-minded maladies, magnanimity shows us the more excellent way.”
Magnaminity, he wrote, helps a man fulfill St. Paul’s instructions in Philippians 4:8– “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just … if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Magnanimity helps a man cultivate a gratitude for both the gifts God has given him and the gifts God has bestowed upon others, Kelly wrote. It also helps cultivate an attitude of always seeing the best in others and interpreting their actions in that light.
In explaining how fathers can instill magnanimity in their children, Kelly emphasized that it is more important to demonstrate the virtue than to instruct one’s children to practice it.
“When a magnanimous father demonstrates a generous spirit and speaks well of others, his children take notice,” Kelly wrote. “He encourages his children, praising them for their accomplishments and gently correcting them when they need it.”
He referenced Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21, in which St. Paul emphasizes that a father’s praises are more important than his criticisms.
He also wrote that the magnanimous father sees his children’s great potential, and helps build up their confidence by encouraging them to go beyond their comfort zones and recognizing their talents. He also encourages them to embrace their own God-given call to greatness and sanctity.
“Perhaps most importantly,” Kelly added, “a father passes on the virtue of magnanimity to his children by loving their mother in thought, word and deed each day. As husbands, we are called to go the extra mile in service to our wives. That can take many forms, but it includes being lavish in our praise, quick to forgive and first to apologize.”
Kelly concluded by encouraging husbands and fathers to pray for God to enlarge their hearts, referencing God’s promise in Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.”
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