Posts Tagged ‘theological virtues’
Growing in the Theological Virtues – The Virtue of Hope Gives You Peace
The theological virtues are the foundation of a good relationship with God. Since any human relationship starts with trust, that’s the way that God starts us out on the path to having a deeper relationship with him. The theological virtue of hope means to trust that God will be true to his promises. Truly trusting…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues with Moses – Faith
Just as God uses the theological virtues to lead us through spiritual growth in a way that harmonizes with human nature, he also led humankind through salvation history in the same way. We saw how God taught Abram to trust him, instilling salvation history in the virtue of hope. It may surprise you to realize…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues: Intimacy with God
The main goal of spiritual growth is to grow in our relationship with God. That’s exactly what the theological virtues help us to do. The first step of any human relationship is to build trust. As trust strengthens, our relationship grows in the security necessary to open ourselves in intimacy. Intimacy means to truly know…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues: Hope and the Bus Stop
The fruits of spiritual growth from the theological virtues, including the virtue of hope, are lived in this life. But the true object of our hope lies at the other end of death. Saint Paul tells us, “In the end, three things remain: faith, hope and love.” Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that of the theological…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – the Witness of Hope
In our quest for spiritual growth, we seek to become the best that we can be by growing in virtue, but our virtue must also moves us out of ourselves and unite us to God and neighbor in selfless love. The theological virtues give us the foundation for a real, lived relationship with God. The…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – Hope: Avoiding Despair and Presumption
As we’ve seen in this series, spiritual growth requires us to grow in the theological virtues, including the theological virtue of hope, which means to trust God. The alternative to hope is to fall into either despair or presumption. Despair robs the joy out of life. Presumption turns our trust into exploitation. The Error of…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues and Our Hope for Heaven
The theological virtues are necessary for spiritual growth. The theological virtue of hope is very important because trust is the first part of any relationship. While the theological virtue of hope means trust in any promise that God makes us, it is primarily trusting in God’s promise of Heaven. There are three conditions needed to…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – Hope Means Learning to Trust
Spiritual growth means growth in the theological virtues. Theological virtues are directly related to our relationship with God. God leads us to a relationship with him based on the way that human relationships work. Sure, he could just “zap” us in to intimacy with Him. But he chooses to approach us in ways that are…
Read MoreChristian Love: Why Selfishness and “Stinking Thinking” Make Us Miserable
Christian love is the key of Catholic spirituality. Our first calling is to love God with our whole hearts, mind and soul and to love our neighbor as ourselves. But it’s too easy to relegate love to a broad, vapid sense of well-being while still remaining selfish and self-centered at heart. My “favorite flavor” of…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – Hope and Heaven
Is Your Hope Manly or Wimpy? The theological virtues are infused into our souls at the time of our baptism. In other words, if you are baptized, you have the virtue of hope. Hope is a supernatural virtue, which means that through God’s grace it strengthens our ability to have a relationship with God and…
Read More