We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when we pray for you,
for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus
and the love that you have for all the holy ones
because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
⁋1812 The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man's faculties for participation in the divine nature: for the theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object.
⁋1813 The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being. There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity.
I don't know when the set of faith, hope, and love first appeared as the theological virtues. They might have been familiar to Saint Paul from his deep knowledge of Jewish religion and tradition. I don't suppose they would have appeared in the Greek philosophical tradition for their philosophers had little interest in history or tradition. They searched for eternal truths that should apply to everyone in every time and place.
Faith, love, and hope understand and embrace the reality of time. They address the past, the present, and the future, in that order. We keep faith with our history and traditions. Fidelity means I am the same person as I was yesterday, even as I learn and grow from my experience. Love gratefully embraces the present moment in myself, in those around me, and in our circumstances. It does not wish we were somewhere else. Hope anticipates the presence of God and plans the future in the light of God's will.
As the Catechism teaches, they are human virtues rooted in theology; and not alien to our human nature. The Colossian Jews and gentiles would have had a natural understanding of them. The Spirit of our Creator moves in all people regardless of their religion, to help them keep faith in one another, practice love, and anticipate a future with hope.
Without these natural virtues life is bleak; with them life is a struggle; but when the Father and the Son give us the Holy Spirit, our life shines like sparks through stubble!
The theological virtues appear in our actions. Regardless of anyone's insistence that, "I have faith," or "I love God," or "I hope for the future;" if the virtues don't appear in actions, they are tinkling cymbal and sounding brass. What will appear is a lack of enthusiasm, interest, and concern. Their faith, love, and hope might be entirely self-concerned and egotistical.
Saint Paul was delighted with his Colossian congregation precisely because they manifested the Theological Virtues. They were alive! and the thought of them cheered him enormously, even while he cooled his heels in a Roman jail.
So long as there is a Church there will be those who drag along with us, attached by human relationship but without the animation of the Holy Spirit. But so long as there is God, we will find inspiring, committed, and savvy people whose actions prove their faith, hope, and love.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.