Faith, Hope, and Love

It is the virtue of love that enables us to transcend our egos and gives meaning and purpose to all that we do.

Paul writes in his First Letter to the Corinthians, “And now these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” 1 Cor. 13:13. These three virtues are to be understood as mutually reinforcing in this life. Of the three, though, only love is eternal, only love will transcend this life and be the core reality of eternal life. More on that later.

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As Christians, the virtue of faith is of prime importance. The credal statement of our Christian faith begins with the words, “I (We) believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I (We) believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God…I (We) believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets…I (We) confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and I (we) look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.” This statement of faith is our reason for hope in this world.

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Paul tells us in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” In this life, faith and hope are the drivers behind all that we are and do. Even non-believers have “faith” and “hope”, but most often in things that are momentary, limited, and finite. But as Christians, we have faith and hope in God’s love because it was revealed to us in the flesh in Jesus Christ. And because of this, our hope is that one day we will come to live in the eternal presence of God in the kingdom.

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Our lives as Christians are not easy, for we are required to live our faith on a daily basis in a world that often misunderstands it, or misinterprets it, or even despises it, and often tempts us to leave it out of fear of the world’s rejection. We need faith and hope in this life precisely because we are sinners. We are broken and in need. But because of our faith, we know that God’s love is greater than the world, our brokenness, and our sins. We can have hope in this because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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Like Faith and Hope, the virtue of Love is necessary to live a good life in this world, but it is the only one of the three that is also eternal. In this life, we are called by Jesus to love one another as he loved us (Jn 13:34), to love so deeply and truly as to be willing to lay down one’s life for a friend (Jn 15:13). We are to love God with our whole being and our neighbors as ourselves (Mt. 22:36-40). It is the virtue of love that enables us to transcend our egos and gives meaning and purpose to all that we do. On the other hand, without the virtue of love, all life becomes selfish, mean and base, even destructive. In heaven we will no longer need faith and hope. Only love will remain for we will be in the presence of the One-Who-Is-Love (1 Jn 4:8) from all eternity and for all eternity. Because of the virtues of faith, hope, and love, we know that our sins are not fatal, our life is not futile, and our death is not fatal. Thanks be to God!

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