# Becoming a Brick Wall of Integrity - Bishop Robert Barron

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 25 Aug 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72733585/classic_sunday_sermon_becoming_a_brick_wall_of_integrity.mp3



## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: Please be with you. Friends. Have you been following these
[0:08] Speaker 1: sermons of mine in the past couple of months, You know,
[0:09] Speaker 1: I've been focusing very much on the first readings coming
[0:13] Speaker 1: up out of the Old Testament, because I think we
[0:15] Speaker 1: Catholics especially aren't that great at understanding the Old Testament.
[0:18] Speaker 1: So today I'm going to look at this marvelous passage
[0:22] Speaker 1: from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. Now, Ezekiel one
[0:26] Speaker 1: of the four major prophets, along with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel,
[0:30] Speaker 1: also one of the most theologically profound, and one of
[0:33] Speaker 1: the most mysterious of the prophets. In fact, ancient Israel
[0:37] Speaker 1: had an adage that one should not even approach Ezekiel
[0:42] Speaker 1: till you're about fifty. They thought prior to that you
[0:45] Speaker 1: just didn't have what it takes to read a text
[0:49] Speaker 1: is complex as this one. So we'll be reading from
[0:52] Speaker 1: Ezekiel today, and the passage is from the eighteenth chapter. Now,
[0:58] Speaker 1: I think the eighteenth chapter of Isikiel represents a real
[1:01] Speaker 1: breakthrough in the consciousness of the West. You know, I'm
[1:06] Speaker 1: a student of philosophy, and you look at people like
[1:08] Speaker 1: Socrates in Plato and so on, who did indeed represent
[1:12] Speaker 1: great breakthroughs, are kind of watershed figures. But mind you,
[1:16] Speaker 1: they're operating around the year four hundred BC. Ezekiel, we're
[1:21] Speaker 1: talking about five ninety five eighty BC, nearly two hundred
[1:27] Speaker 1: years before Socrates and Plato. This figure is operating and writing,
[1:33] Speaker 1: and I think this chapter eighteen I recommend, by the way,
[1:35] Speaker 1: get your Bibles out and just read that eighteenth chapter.
[1:40] Speaker 1: Do us represent a very important breakthrough? Now let me
[1:42] Speaker 1: explain what I mean. Our past is today? Or rather,
[1:46] Speaker 1: the chapter commences with a rehearsal of a proverb that
[1:51] Speaker 1: was evidently popular among the ancient Israelites. Here's the proverb,
[1:56] Speaker 1: the parents have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
[2:02] Speaker 1: are set on edge. See that may if the parents
[2:05] Speaker 1: eat the sour grapes, but the children suffer for it.
[2:10] Speaker 1: The implication seems to be that the children and grandchildren
[2:14] Speaker 1: and descendants of those who have done wicked things are
[2:18] Speaker 1: punished for the wickedness of their forebearers. But see here's
[2:22] Speaker 1: Ezekiel's point. God is having none of that. Listen as
[2:27] Speaker 1: I live, says the Lord God. This proverb shall no
[2:31] Speaker 1: longer be used in Israel. It's very interesting. Now, it's
[2:35] Speaker 1: very interesting. See ancient is your like, Most ancient peoples
[2:40] Speaker 1: thought not so much in terms of the individuals, And
[2:43] Speaker 1: we're on the far side of that divide. I mean,
[2:45] Speaker 1: we are so characterized by individualism that we probably need
[2:49] Speaker 1: a little balancing. But see, these people tended to think
[2:53] Speaker 1: that your family identity, your tribal identity, your national identity,
[2:59] Speaker 1: was more important than you. And so they had no
[3:03] Speaker 1: trouble thinking. Yeah, if someone sinned way back then, and
[3:06] Speaker 1: of course his descendants are implicated because it's your tribe,
[3:11] Speaker 1: it's your family matters more than you. But Ezekiel's saying,
[3:17] Speaker 1: and I think it's a breakthrough. God says, no, no,
[3:21] Speaker 1: that won't work. Listen now what he says as he
[3:25] Speaker 1: channels the words of the Lord. Know that all lives
[3:29] Speaker 1: are mine, the life of the parent as well as
[3:31] Speaker 1: a life for the child. But it is only the
[3:34] Speaker 1: person who sins that shall die. And he spells us
[3:39] Speaker 1: out now in some detail. Listen, if there is a
[3:42] Speaker 1: person who's done all things well, it's been righteous, I'm
[3:46] Speaker 1: quoting now, but whose son is violent, a shudder of blood,
[3:51] Speaker 1: defiles his neighbor's wife, oppresses the poor, lifts up eyes
[3:54] Speaker 1: to idols. Shall he then live? He shall not. You
[3:59] Speaker 1: see this point, there is the son who's wicked, can't
[4:02] Speaker 1: wrap himself in the mantle of his father's virtue. If
[4:07] Speaker 1: you're thinking purely in tribal terms, yeah, okay, maybe hey,
[4:10] Speaker 1: I'm still benefiting from what my great grandfather did. No,
[4:16] Speaker 1: says the Lord, I know both the father and the son,
[4:20] Speaker 1: and the wickedness of one belongs to him, the virtue
[4:23] Speaker 1: of the other belongs to him. Here's how he spells
[4:27] Speaker 1: out the other side. No virtuous son shall suffer for
[4:31] Speaker 1: the wickedness of his father. Here's the Lord speaking. Now.
[4:34] Speaker 1: A child shall not suffer for the iniquity of a parent,
[4:38] Speaker 1: nor a parent suffer for the iniquity of a child.
[4:41] Speaker 1: The righteousness of the righteous shall be his own. The
[4:44] Speaker 1: wickedness of the wicked shall be his own. Here, I think,
[4:52] Speaker 1: is what the prophet e is Ekil under, the guide
[4:54] Speaker 1: to the Holy Spirit, is helping us to see. Though
[4:58] Speaker 1: family identity is real, no one's denying that tribal identity,
[5:03] Speaker 1: our sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves. Yes,
[5:06] Speaker 1: that's all true, more to it, And though our moral
[5:10] Speaker 1: acts always have implications, that's also true. You know, they
[5:14] Speaker 1: can't have negative impact on people to come after us.
[5:16] Speaker 1: That's certainly true. Nevertheless, Nevertheless, in the moral act, the
[5:26] Speaker 1: individual gathers himself, defines his character, stands in a very
[5:37] Speaker 1: real and important sense alone in the presence of God.
[5:43] Speaker 1: Let me say that again. In the moral act, I
[5:48] Speaker 1: gather myself, I define my character. I stand on my
[5:55] Speaker 1: own two feet in the presence of God. Again, these
[6:01] Speaker 1: acts take place in the real world. Yeah, influenced by family, culture, society,
[6:06] Speaker 1: all that's true.
[6:08] Speaker 2: Nevertheless, I show God and the world who I am
[6:17] Speaker 2: in the quality and integrity of my moral acts.
[6:21] Speaker 1: You know, can I put my philosopher's heat on just
[6:23] Speaker 1: for a second against Saint Thomas, Aquinas always comes through
[6:27] Speaker 1: in a pinch with the pithy distinction. Thomas distinguishes between
[6:31] Speaker 1: what he calls an octus holiness and an octus humanos.
[6:36] Speaker 1: What's an octus holiness? That means an act of a man.
[6:39] Speaker 1: So let's say I sneeze. That's an act of a man.
[6:44] Speaker 1: But it's not a human act. What do I mean? Well,
[6:47] Speaker 1: it's not an act by which I am gathering and
[6:51] Speaker 1: consciously defining myself. It's an instinctual reaction, or someone comes
[6:56] Speaker 1: up and they startle me and I jump. Well, that's
[6:59] Speaker 1: an octus holiness. It's an act of a man, but
[7:02] Speaker 1: not an octus humanus. An octus humanus, a human act
[7:07] Speaker 1: involves the full engagement of the mind. I know what
[7:12] Speaker 1: I'm seeking, I know the nature of this, and the
[7:15] Speaker 1: full engagement of the will I choose. I decide now
[7:21] Speaker 1: both those things mind and will influenced by forces outside.
[7:25] Speaker 1: Sure they are, of course they are. But nevertheless, at
[7:28] Speaker 1: that decisive moment, when I gather myself, knowing what I'm doing,
[7:33] Speaker 1: choosing it consciously, in that great octus humanus, in that
[7:37] Speaker 1: great human act, I stand before God, I stand on
[7:43] Speaker 1: my own two feet, and I define my character. You know.
[7:49] Speaker 1: It comes to mind here too, and I reference my
[7:52] Speaker 1: favorite movie Man for All Seasons a lot, the great
[7:55] Speaker 1: Saint Thomas Moore, when he's up against the pressure of
[7:58] Speaker 1: King Henry the Eighth to give in as everyone, all
[8:01] Speaker 1: the leaders of that society had given in. And Moore
[8:06] Speaker 1: is talking to his best friend Norfolk, and Norfolk's trying
[8:09] Speaker 1: to persuade him, you know, like Thomas Kman, We've all
[8:12] Speaker 1: given in. And Moore says, in regard to his own convictions.
[8:16] Speaker 1: But it's that I believe it. Then he says, moment rather, no,
[8:20] Speaker 1: not that I believe it, but that I believe it
[8:23] Speaker 1: and see in some ways that's the folk amo on
[8:25] Speaker 1: which that whole movie turns. Not that I believe it,
[8:28] Speaker 1: but that I believe it. More, at that moment was
[8:31] Speaker 1: summing up his whole life, defining who he was, not
[8:37] Speaker 1: wrapping himself in the mantle of his virtuous predecessors, not
[8:42] Speaker 1: suffering from the wickedness of his friends around him, but
[8:45] Speaker 1: at that moment fully engaging mind and will engaging in
[8:49] Speaker 1: an octus humanus. That I believe it. Now we know
[8:55] Speaker 1: who he is, now we know where he stands. Here's
[9:01] Speaker 1: something from the philosopher of Dietrich von Hildebrand, who loved
[9:05] Speaker 1: the three transcendentals, the good, the true, and the beautiful.
[9:08] Speaker 1: Right Van Hillebrand said, you know, look, truth wonderful. Every
[9:12] Speaker 1: philosopher seeks it. What a wonderful thing. If you're educated
[9:16] Speaker 1: and you learn to read books and to think deeply
[9:18] Speaker 1: and entertain, you know, high ideas. But we would say
[9:22] Speaker 1: if someone were incapable of that, let's say they weren't
[9:25] Speaker 1: that intelligent, they weren't well educated, they weren't given access
[9:28] Speaker 1: to books, et cetera. We'd say, well, that's that's sad,
[9:32] Speaker 1: that's an unfortunate Or let's say the beautiful. Someone with
[9:37] Speaker 1: a great esthetic sensibility. You know, they appreciate fine art,
[9:42] Speaker 1: they can even create fine art. How wonderful Michael Angelo
[9:46] Speaker 1: and so on. And if someone were deprived of that,
[9:49] Speaker 1: they never got an aesthetic education, they had a talent
[9:52] Speaker 1: that was never cultivated, we'd certainly say that's that's a sadness.
[9:58] Speaker 1: But in regard to the good, in regard to the good,
[10:04] Speaker 1: to the morally upright, if someone's incapable of that, they
[10:11] Speaker 1: fail in that regard, we don't just say how sad.
[10:15] Speaker 1: We say that that's a calamity, that that's a tragedy.
[10:21] Speaker 1: We're gonna We're not gonna, you know, morally blame someone
[10:24] Speaker 1: that doesn't become a great philosopher or a great artist.
[10:26] Speaker 1: But we are going to morally blame someone who doesn't
[10:29] Speaker 1: cultivate the moral dimension of his life. What von Hildebrand
[10:35] Speaker 1: shows there is the primacy of the good, the primacy
[10:39] Speaker 1: of the moral, And in light of Ezekiel, how it's
[10:43] Speaker 1: the moral act that defines who I am just one
[10:49] Speaker 1: more reference to another hero of mine, namely Saint John
[10:52] Speaker 1: Paul the Second. So Carl Vote, will you know it
[10:56] Speaker 1: was a great moral philosopher. That was his area of expertise,
[11:01] Speaker 1: and he said this in his moral writings. Every time
[11:05] Speaker 1: we perform a moral act, we make a moral decision,
[11:08] Speaker 1: we do two things. One is we affect the world
[11:13] Speaker 1: in a particular way. We do this, we move in
[11:15] Speaker 1: that direction, we take this action. But then Voetia said,
[11:21] Speaker 1: in a deeper way, we also are creating the person
[11:27] Speaker 1: we are becoming. Let's think about that as a direct line.
[11:32] Speaker 1: It seems to me from Ezekiel to John Paul the Second.
[11:35] Speaker 1: When I make a moral decision, now now mind you,
[11:38] Speaker 1: I'm not talking about my decision to watch the baseball
[11:40] Speaker 1: game or watch a movie. I mean, that's a decision,
[11:42] Speaker 1: but not a morally important decision. I decide to have
[11:45] Speaker 1: a ham sandwich or a turkey sandwich. That is a
[11:48] Speaker 1: morally relevant decision. But in the presence of a moral choice,
[11:54] Speaker 1: knowing full well what's at stake, fully engaging my will,
[11:58] Speaker 1: when I do that sort of act, I perform that
[12:01] Speaker 1: kind of act, I'm defining the character that I'm becoming.
[12:09] Speaker 1: Think of every moral act. This is a voyt idea.
[12:11] Speaker 1: It's like a little brick in the wall. And with
[12:15] Speaker 1: each one of those acts, I'm building up the edifice
[12:18] Speaker 1: of my own character. And keep that in mind everybody.
[12:22] Speaker 1: That's a very important idea. Again, I'm not talking, you know,
[12:25] Speaker 1: movie versus baseball game. I mean every time in the
[12:28] Speaker 1: course of the day, when you take a moral decision.
[12:33] Speaker 1: You're not wrapping yourself in the mantle of your grandparents.
[12:37] Speaker 1: You're not suffering because of what your children might be doing.
[12:40] Speaker 1: But at that moment you are standing in a self
[12:45] Speaker 1: defining way in the presence of God. I think Ezekiel
[12:50] Speaker 1: chapter eighteen represents a great breakthrough in consciousness. Now come
[12:54] Speaker 1: all the way up through Thomas Moore, all the way
[12:57] Speaker 1: to Saint John Paul the Second, and keep that in mind.
[13:02] Speaker 1: As you're moving through your day and you're making moral
[13:06] Speaker 1: choice after moral choice, you're affecting your world. You're also
[13:12] Speaker 1: defining the person you are becoming. And God bless you.

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