Overview
Think of someone you admire as a person of integrity and goodness. You may recognise their virtues:
A virtue is a power or habit that enables us to live a good life: a firm disposition to do good. Virtues are strengthened by repeated actions, guided in the light of faith and reason.
Four ‘cardinal’ virtues are the source of all other virtues that guide intellects and wills towards genuinely Christian ways of acting:
Prudence – enables discernment and practice of good moral behaviour
Justice – gives God and others what is due to them
Fortitude – is the courage and strength to do good in spite of difficulties, fear or temptation
Temperance – helps control instincts and desires, to maintain balance and moderation in our lives
Theological virtues come from God, relate us to God and help us return to God.
Faith - enables relationship with God, belief in God and what God reveals
Hope - enables trust in God’s promises, dispelling despair and self-centredness, and empowering and motivating work for God’s Reign (or ‘Kingdom’) on earth.
Charity (Love) - involves active self-giving love of God and neighbour, the basis of all Christian life.
Charity (Love) is a gift and a command. Jesus gave his example and command to love; “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Love is the greatest of all virtues, giving form and shape to all the others and binding them together.
“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 Corinthians 13:4-7).
“If I...do not have love, I am nothing.” Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, “if I do not have love, I gain nothing.” Love is superior to all the virtues. “Now, faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-4,13; Catechism of the Catholic Church Nos 1825-1826).
Catechism of the Catholic Church
(Paragraph numbers for the Catechism are shown - Click the Nos section to view)
GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE No 1949
GRACE Nos 1996-2005
LIFE IN CHRIST Nos 1691-1698
LIFE IN THE SPIRIT No 1699
DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON No 1700
HUMAN BEINGS: IMAGE OF GOD Nos 1701-1709
IN BRIEF Nos 1710-1715
The Beatitudes Nos 1716-1717
Desire for Happiness Nos 1717-1719
Christian Beatitude (Happiness and Blessing) Nos 1720-1724
IN BRIEF Nos 1725-1729
HUMAN FREEDOM No 1730
Freedom and Responsibility Nos 1731-1738
Human Freedom and Salvation Nos 1739-1742
IN BRIEF Nos 1743-1748
THE MORAL LAW Nos 1950-1953
MORALITY No 1749, Nos 1750-1754, Nos 1755-1756
IN BRIEF Nos 1757-1761
HUMAN PASSIONS AND FEELINGS: IN BRIEF 1771-1775
VIRTUES No 1803, 1804-1811, 1812-1829
The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit 1743-1748
IN BRIEF 1833-1845
SIN AND MERCY Nos 1846-1848, Nos 1849-1851, Nos 1852-1853
The Gravity of Sin: 1854-1864, 1865-1869
IN BRIEF 1870-1876