Virtue is not easily defined, but according to dictionary. com, it is moral excellence, goodness and righteousness. However, the three theological virtues are superior to natural human virtues because they relate directly to God.
They are infused into the souls of Christians at Baptism, to make them capable of acting as God's children and winning eternal life. The theological virtues have God as their origin, motive and object. These theological virtues are faith, hope and charity.
Faith is the virtue by which we believe in God and all that He has revealed to us through the Bible and through the teachings of the Church. It motivates us to seek to know God and do His will. "The one who is righteous will live by faith." Rom 1:17
Christians must not only live their own lives according to their faith, but also profess it, bear witness to it, and seek to spread it. By doing so, they help to assure our own salvation. Jesus promised, "Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven". Mt 10: 32-33.
2. Hope
Hope is the virtue by which we desire to attain eternal happiness in heaven, depending not on our own strength, but on God's grace. Hope keeps us from discouragement, and sustains us during times of struggle. It motivates us to undertake activities which will facilitate our progress towards eternal life. It gives joy, even in the midst of suffering.
The writer of the first letter to the Thessalonians advises the early Christians: "Let us...put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation". 1 Thess 5:8 By doing so, we can hope to win the glory of heaven, which was promised to those who love God and do His will.
3. Charity
Charity is the virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus gave the Apostles the mandate to love, the night before He died: " I give you a new commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you, you should also love one another." John 13: 34
The Apostle Paul describes Christian love. " Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Cor 13: 4-7.
John tells us: " Whoever does not love, does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8
These, then, are the three theological virtues, the virtues which relate directly to God. They are infused into the Christian soul at Baptism. They are meant to motivate his/her thoughts, words and deeds during life, so that s/he will attain eternal happiness in heaven with the One who has been the object of his faith, hope and love, Almighty God.
"And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." 1 Cor 13:13
References:
1. The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version
2. The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Doubleday. 1995
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