Faith, Hope and Love

I was considering today the theological virtue of faith.

St. Paul says, "So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13). I was considering how often our emphasis in the spiritual life is on charity, and how that sometimes negatively affects our focus on faith. Now, the Catechism states, along with St. Paul, that charity is the greatest of the theological virtues (see CCC 1826), and therefore our emphasis on charity is certainly just. However, there is a reason that "faith" is listed first, and I wanted to reflect for a moment on the importance of faith.

'The Incredulity of Saint Thomas' by Caravaggio

During the Year of Faith I think it is especially important to ponder anew what it means to "have faith." St. Paul teaches us that, "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Certainly, faith and hope go hand and hand, and assist us in better understanding the other virtue when we contemplate them and practice them in conjunction. However, to specifically look at "faith," we must dissect St. Paul's statement. "Faith" is the "realization" and the "evidence."

This is interesting, because we typically consider virtues to be things that are themselves "unseen." They may be "felt," or "sensed" and they are certainly practiced, but the language here is "realization" and "evidence." The painting above by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is a vibrant depiction of faith being realized and evidenced. Saint Thomas said that he could not or would not believe that Christ was risen from the dead until he could touch the places on Jesus where he had been nailed to the Cross; when Jesus presented himself to Thomas and offered him his hands and his side, Thomas exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn. 20:28).  This is the response of one who has been filled with the virtue of faith and who has seen evidence of that faith come to life.

Our Lady, of course, is a perfect witness of faith - made - real. The angel announces to her something so spectacular and seemingly impossible, and she replies in faith, "May it be done to me according to your word" (Lk. 1:38). Immediately she conceives Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Throughout the Gospels, how often do we hear a final response from Christ as he works a miracle that has been asked of him, "your faith has saved you"?  It is the faith itself, the real and dramatic presence of the virtue within the person, that makes way for the great works of God. In Matthew's Gospel, Christ is unable to preform many miracles in his native place because they could not believe that he had the power to do so - "And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith" (Matt. 13:58).

This ought to be a challenge to us to consider how often we pray the prayer of one whose faith is great enough that we expect a substantial and evidential result for our prayers. The father of the child who was possessed begged Jesus for healing saying,  "I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24). Do we not need to be echoing this same prayer for ourselves each day? Are there not many people who are suffering, many countries that are in need, many souls that are lost and broken, in need of healing? Do we not look around each day and find endless need for prayer and sacrifice? Where is our heart in our prayer? Where is our faith? Do we possess this virtue that gives rise to the miracles that we need? It is certainly not God's injustice, God's wrath, or any failure or evil on God's part that prevents good from happening. God is all just, all merciful, all loving and ready to assist us. Certainly, we have free will, and sadly we live in a world very broken by the effects of sin, and God does not intervene so as to prevent our free well. Yet, God can intervene to do good things, to do great things, if we put our faith in his power and love and prepare our hearts for him.

Cardinal Schonborn of Austria reflects here for a time on the Year of Faith, and emphasizes personal conversion as the starting point to living a life of authentic and zealous faith. We need to begin to expect what we ask for in prayer, and to do so in humble confidence. We need to pray daily to the Holy Spirit to perfect in us the virtues, to bring an increase in the theological virtues, especially faith, and to assist us in our Christian lives that we might grow in our faith. We need to frequent the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist.

If we hold that love is the highest and greatest of virtues, and as St. Thomas Aquinas said, the perfection of perfections, than we must begin at the beginning; we must look first at our own hearts, and determine where and how we must grow. If we doubt the power of God to work miracles, if we doubt the mercy of God to forgive our sins, if we doubt the love of God to provide for us in our needs, if we doubt the justice of God to care for the good, if we have any areas where we are struggling to believe - we must pray, and we must practice expecting. We must remember that faith is "realization" and "evidence," and we must find ways to live the virtue of faith until there is a great amount of realization and evidence of the faith of the Church throughout the world!

During this Year of Faith, let us not, both personally in our own hearts and universally in the Church, be a place where Christ is unable to work great signs because of our lack of faith, but a place where Christ will turn to us and say, "Go, your faith has saved you."