The virtue of charity requires that we put our loves in the right order.  And specifically, that we love God first, and then our neighbor.  But part of the reason that is difficult is that there is so much confusion about...

A scribe once asked Jesus which commandment is the most important of all.  And Jesus answered, “‘[Y]ou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all...

This week, we will conclude our consideration of the seven classical virtues with the greatest of them all: love, or charity.  Indeed, of all the virtues, “the greatest of these is love.” Why is that?  Well, Thomas Aquinas said, “no...

Francis Bacon once said, “Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad supper.”  When you think of Hope as a confident expectation of God’s provision of the future good, that doesn’t mean we are simply to start the day with...

Earlier this week, we noted that Hope is not just a wish, but confident expectation in the future—even when the world might think us obstinate fools.  But how can that be?  How can confident expectation, which seems more a feature...

Usually, when people call us stubborn or describe what we believe as ridiculous, that’s not a compliment.  But when it comes to the virtue of Hope, let me encourage you to be both. In fact, our friend G.K Chesterton said...

Last week, we considered the virtue of Faith.  This week, we will consider the virtue of Hope.  The two are closely related, but they are not the same. One way to think about it is the difference in their objects,...

So, we learned yesterday that, if we would have Faith, we must both believe and trust.  And we’ve seen this week that our faith is greater when we believe in what is most real and we trust in what is...

Yesterday we observed that the virtue of Faith is, ultimately, belief in God.  But I also said that believing that God exists still is not true Faith.  So, what’s the deal?  What’s missing? Answer: Trust.  Saint John Henry Newman said it simply:...

On Monday, I said that true faith believes in less than everything, but more than nothing.  That’s true as far as it goes—and we would do well to avoid those errors.  But that can’t be all there is to it—otherwise,...