384. What are the theological virtues?

384. What are the theological virtues?

(Comp 384) The theological virtues have God himself as their origin, motive and direct object. Infused with sanctifying grace, they bestow on one the capacity to live in a relationship with the Trinity. They are the foundation and the energizing force of the Christian’s moral activity and they give life to the human virtues. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being.

“In brief”

(CCC 1840) The theological virtues dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have God for their origin, their motive, and their object - God known by faith, God hoped in and loved for his own sake. (CCC 1841) There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. They inform all the moral virtues and give life to them. 

To deepen and explain

(CCC 1812) The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man's faculties for participation in the divine nature (Cf. 2 Pet 1:4): for the theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object. 

Reflection

(CCC 1813) The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being. There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity (Cf. 1 Cor 13:13).  

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