On this the fifth Sunday of Lent, we continue our reflections on the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. This week we will look at the virtue of love. Links to the previous posts in this series are at the end of this reflection.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines charity, that is love, as “the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God” (CCC, 1823). Jesus even raises love to the level of a new commandment, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12).

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On this the fourth Sunday of Lent, we continue our reflections on the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. This is the second week we will look at the virtue of hope. You can read the first two reflections on faith here and here, and the first reflection on hope here.

Hope is not a feeling or an attitude but a looking to and yearning for a future blessing from God. We (Rose and Dennis) were both widowed. God tested our mettle in the untimely deaths of our spouses. We both were given Jeremiah 29:11 during these trying times, finding encouragement in these words. We stood on this verse, believing deeply in our hearts that God would deliver on His promise.

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Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful Hebrews 10:23

On this the second Sunday of Lent, we continue our reflections on the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. This is the second part of our study on the virtue of Faith. You can read the first reflection here.

In today’s first reading we are told, “Abram put his faith in the Lord” (Gen 15:6). This was Abram’s response to God’s promise to make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Despite the fact that Abram and Sarah were childless and well past childbearing age, Abram believed and trusted that God would keep this promise.

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On this the first Sunday of Lent, we invite you to journey with us as we study the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. “A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church (803). Further, the “theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity” (1813). “Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us,” and it is by faith that “‘man freely commits his entire self to God’ (Dei Verbum, 5)” (1814).

In The Gift of Faith, Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer writes:

The desert is not a dwelling place; it is only a path, a road on which one comes to know the merciful love of God. Everyone who seeks God must pass through it since the experience of the desert is closely related to the deepening of our faith in His mercy.

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