Paul again gives us an answer. He says, “There are only three things that last, faith, hope, and love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). In Catholic theology we called these three essential attitudes the “theological virtues,” because they were a “participation in the very life of God”—given freely by God, or “infused” into us at our very conception. In this understanding, faith, hope, and love are far more defining of the human person than the “moral virtues,” the various good behaviors we learn as we grow older.
