8 March 2026

8 March 2026 - Third Sunday of Lent - The Theological Virtues

Transcript

Reading:  

Romans 5:2-5, 8-9

Write:  

…we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.

…But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath.

Reflect:   

Faith believes. Hope receives. Charity sustains. These six words describe the theological virtues that are the core of who we are as the people of God, and are the steering force behind our reading this weekend.

Our reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans talks about “boasting in hope of the glory of God.” But let me back up and describe faith for a moment. The virtue of faith is the source of our receiving the grace of God that leads us to salvation. Our justification, as St. Paul said in our reading, comes to us because of our faith in God. But this is just the beginning. Faith believes in the promises of God.

And this leads us to hope. Hope receives. I want to spend a little more time on hope. There is an unfortunate double meaning to the word hope. This becomes very evident when Catholics are talking to Protestants. The Protestant world asks Catholics, “are you saved?” And the proper response from Catholics is, “I hope so!” Now, Protestants think that when we say, “I hope so!” we are not sure whether we are saved or not. But that is not what we mean when we use the word hope. Hope receives. It is the ongoing response to the love of God that has been poured into our hearts as St. Paul said in our reading today. We hope – we receive – all that God has chosen to give us. Hope is the virtue of receiving the promises of God, the love of God. It is not a one-and-done event, but it is an ongoing relationship of love that should be growing every day.

As one commentary that I read in preparing for this weekend said, “The unredeemed person boasts through self-praise, but the person who acknowledges redemption through Jesus boasts in God himself and in the certainty of sharing in God’s glory.” This certainty is the sharing of hope that continues to grow our faith within us.

Another quote from another commentary: “This understanding explains how in addition to boasting about [Paul’s] hope (v. 2) and God (v. 11), he can also boast about his afflictions (v. 3). Paul is not a masochist. Rather, he describes his newly discovered ability to resist the challenges and risks of afflictions that results from following Jesus. The risk they entail is that they could possibly cause an individual to give up on God. Patiently endured, however, these hardships serve to highlight a God-pleasing attitude of openness to the future characterized by great freedom from death and sin (5:12–21), from self (6:1–23), and from the Torah as law (7).” Salvation requires us to continue pursuing God throughout our life once we have begun the journey of faith. This is what the virtue of hope does for us! Faith believes, hope receives, charity sustains.

Another quote: “Thus, faith leads us to know and be sure of the things we hope for (cf. Heb 11:1); hope ensures that we shall attain them, and enlivens our love of God; charity [the love of God] for its part, gives us energy to practice the other two theological virtues. The definitive outcome of this growth in [faith, hope, and love] is the everlasting peace that is of the essence of eternal life.”

As Saint Augustine said, “To love God is entirely a gift of God. He – without being loved – loves us and enabled us to love him. We were loved when we were still displeasing to him, so that we might be given something whereby we might please him. So it is that the Spirit of the Father and the Son, whom we love with the Father and the Son, pours charity into our hearts.”

Apply:   

Faith believes. Hope receives. Charity sustains. I even have some “Catholic calisthenics” to accompany these phrases. Faith believes: we extend our arms straight toward heaven because we believe in the promises of God. Hope receives: we draw down to ourselves the grace of God by hope that sets us free and we embrace the work of God as we clutch to ourselves all that God has promised. Charity sustains: and from the collected love of God that fills us we spread our arms and hands to the world around us because of the love of God.

This is why I continued my reading that I opened with to the next verse that Paul wrote: “How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath.”

This is where our Christianity begins to rely on the work of God in our lives. Now, remember, liturgy means work. The work of God in our lives leads us to liturgy – to the Mass. So we have been “justified by faith” that leads us to believe in the promises of God. This belief gives us the confidence to hope that we are receiving these same promises. Because we are receiving these promises, we can share them with the world around us in every way we can conceive – this is charity.

Faith believes. Hope receives. Charity sustains. “… The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Once we receive this love of God our response has to be one – has to be one – that shares the love of God with those who do not know it especially. [And, honestly, none of us knows the love of God as we should. We can all grow in our understanding and love of God.]

One more time. These six words form the basis of virtue in our lives – the virtue of the theological virtues – Faith believes. Hope receives. Charity sustains.

Pray/Praise:   

Let us pray. God, in your great wisdom and love, you have shared with us the very life of the Trinity in faith, hope, and love. Continue to pour out in us this Lent and throughout our lives what we need to grow in this deep abiding holiness that you offer us in the virtues. Conform us to your will that we may be witnesses to your faith, hope, and love before a world desperately in need of all three. Amen.

+++++