Morality is about fidelity, not success. Both in his words and in his life, Jesus taught this. We don’t live on bread alone. Jesus told us that. Our soul, too, needs to be fed, and its food is affirmation, recognition, and blessing. Fr. Ron Rolheiser writes that everyone needs to be healthily affirmed when we do something well to have resources within us to affirm others. We can’t give what we haven’t got! That’s self-evident. And so, for us to love and affirm others, we must first be loved, blessed, and praised. Praise, recognition, and blessing build up the soul. In complimenting and praising others, we are tapping into what’s deepest inside us, namely, the image and likeness of God. When we praise someone else, then, like God creating, we breathe life into a person, breathing spirit into them. People need to be praised. We don’t live on bread alone, and we don’t live on oxygen alone, either. But praise is not something we give out easily. We are so blocked by the disappointments and frustrations within our lives that we give in to cynicism and jealousy and operate out of these rather than our virtues. Genuine praise is never wrong. It simply acknowledges the truth that’s there. That’s a moral imperative. Love requires it. As Thomas Aquinas submits, refusing to admire when someone or something merits praise is negligence, a fault, selfishness, pettiness, and a lack of maturity. Conversely, paying a compliment when one is due is a virtue and a sign of maturity. Generosity is as much about giving praise as it is about giving money. We may not be stingy in our praise. The 14th century Flemish mystic, John of Ruusbroec, taught that “those who do not give praise here on earth shall be mute for all eternity.”