The three theological virtues, faith, hope, love and the Eucharist
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1. The characteristics of Faith, Hope and Love
Unlike other virtues, one cannot attain faith, hope, and love by mere learning nor by practicing. They are called theological virtues. They are infused in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object (
(cfr. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1812, 1813).
Therefore, we should ask ourselves not “in what we believe”, but “in whom we believe. The theological virtues enable us to have an intimate father-son relationship with the Heavenly Father. We all have the desire to know what we believe, to understand the doctrine we believe and we hope to do good deeds. This desire is natural and good, however, faith, hope, and love urge us to reach a higher level of living.
How the three theological virtues faith, hope and love are related to the Eucharist?
After Jesus had fed the people with five loaves and two fish, he told them not to work for food that perishes, but “to do the work of God, and to believe in the one He sent”. (
John 6：29﹚
The Eucharist is the memorial of how Jesus did the work of God: out of love He sacrificed himself and gave his life for all. Therefore, faith is not a vague sentiment. We believe that we can reach a much higher level. We believe in the Risen Lord present in the Eucharist. We believe that we should carry out Jesus’ mission of saving the world with love. St. Paul reminds us that “faith, hope, love remain, these three, but the greatest of these is love”. (
1 Corinthians 13：13﹚
The Eucharist is the sign of this eternal love of Jesus for all. In heaven, faith and hope will not be needed any more, as in heaven we will see God face to face as he is. Hope will not be necessary either, since everything will have reached their fulfilment. Love will remain eternally because God is Love.
Christians very often think that to live out Christ means to do good deeds, obey the commandments, speak the truth and search for justice. This thinking is correct, but it is not complete. It is far from the essence of the life of God’s children, who know that we are saved not by our merits but by the grace of God. Therefore we first must receive the Holy Spirit’ gift of the three theological virtues faith, hope and love, which will then enable us to do good deeds, obey the commandments, speak the truth and act justly. Otherwise the order of cause and effect will be upended!
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2. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” John 1：29﹚
There are three types of lamb in the Bible. First, the Passover Lamb. On the night before the Israelites departed from Egypt, Moses told them to prepare a lamb for each household. They had to take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they ate it. Seeing the blood, God would pass over and not let the destructors come into the house. (
Exodus 12：22-23﹚
Secondly the Passover Lamb symbolizes both salvation and the scapegoat. The Prophet Isaiah describes the servant of God as a lamb led to the slaughterhouse or a sheep silent before shearers. The guilt of the world laid upon him, he endured our sufferings. He was afflicted, spurned, and avoided by men. (
Isaiah 53：3-7﹚
St. Peter reminds us that we are ransomed from our futile conduct, handed on by our ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb. (
1 Peter 1：18-19﹚
Thirdly, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Then John’s disciples followed Jesus. (
John 1：29﹚
The lamb in the Scripture delivers us a very strong message: Jesus leaves us His Body and Blood as a sign to commemorate Him. The Eucharist is the feast of His redemptive work. At every Mass, the priest repeats what John the Baptist said, “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. How does Jesus take away the sin of the world? What exactly is the sin of the world? We cannot interpret literally the meaning of the sin of the world as the sin of humankind. Sin is a mystery. It is a breakup between God and His creation. The incarnate Word dwells among us to bear our sins, and humbly accepts the judgement of the world to die as a criminal on the cross. His role of scapegoat has bridged the gap between God the creator and His creatures. How could we stand there with no reaction when we hear the solemn declaration of “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”? We should act like John’s disciples to build a close relationship with Jesus. If we firmly believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God, every time we receive the Eucharist at Mass, we are reaffirming our covenant with Jesus to carry on His mission to preach God’s work to all nations. Jesus sacrifices Himself for the sake of the sin of the world. Where there is hatred, He brings love, where there is violence, He brings hope, and brings mercy to evil, enable those who fell because of sin to stand up again. By imitating Jesus, the Mass will become part of our real life, and Jesus will no longer be lonely on the cross. Sunday Mass is not simply Jesus' sacrifice, but the sacrifice of the whole community of believers, who like Jesus and with Jesus are willing to take Jesus with them to bear the sufferings of others.
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3. You will eat my flesh and drink my blood
Jesus' disciples were shocked when Jesus told them that they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood. They did not understand Jesus and they were wondering whether Jesus was using a parable. Perhaps Jesus was asking them to accept reality as it is. They truly did not know. To understand what Jesus meant, let us try to get inside the mind of Jesus and find out what he was thinking. In particular, in the miracle of the five loaves and two fish, when Jesus was giving bread to the hungry, what was he thinking in his mind? What was Jesus' thought when He fed the hungry? It was always in His mind that if a man is to be saved, he must first share what he has with others, so he invited the crowd present to share what they had. The five loaves and two fish are just a symbol. Willing to share all that we have is the standard requirement. When Jesus broke the bread and gave it to the hungry, he knew that He was going to become the broken bread to be given to the people. The miracle of the broken loaves and of the shared fish symbolizes the broken body of Jesus on the cross. The Gospel of John, which does not report Jesus’ last supper, in its detailed description of the miracle of the five loaves and two fish well expresses the deep meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross. The other three gospels report Jesus’ last supper and record Jesus’ words. We hear them each time we participate in the Mass: “On the night He was betrayed, He took bread, and, giving thanks to the Father, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you. When Supper was ended, He took the chalice and, once more giving thanks, He gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me”. Each Mass is a memorial of Jesus’ death on the cross. During Mass we are allowed to share his broken body and drink his poured out blood. The gospel of John reports that after the miracle of the loaves and fish, Jesus explained to the crowds the meaning of the miracle. Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him”. (
John 6：56﹚
These words clearly state the objective of the gift of Jesus. Whenever the faithful eat the bread and drink the cup, Jesus "abides" in them and they "abide" in Jesus. "Abides in" denotes a true deep communion. By eating this bread and drinking this blood, "we" have become what we eat and what we drink. For this to happen, the "Amen" of the believer is necessary, which means "I believe and I am willing". When the believers receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, they commit themselves to fulfil Jesus’ mission until he will come again.
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4. The Word – the food from heaven
Jesus made it clear that in the Old Testament the manna was the food that came down from heaven. It prefigured the new mamma, Jesus’ words and His body and blood. "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." (
Matthew 4：4﹚
He further states that “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life”, (
John 6：63﹚
“everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” (
John 6：40﹚
Many people saw Jesus and heard his words, but not all believed. Many, including some of his disciples, turned their backs and left him. Jesus explained that to know and accept him as son of God and the Messiah sent by God is a gift from God. (
John 6：44﹚
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (
John 6：35﹚
In other words we can say that the whole mystery of the Eucharist is listening to and believing in the Word of God and eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus.
“It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes
to me”.(
John 6：45﹚Participating in the Eucharist is God’s invitation to us to learn. This learning is not like learning at school or at work. Our true teacher is inside us. Is Jesus and his Spirit, who inspire us, our inner conscience to see the truth, to see the meaning of life, to understand our responsibility at home, in society and in the community of the Church, to see our relationship with others and with the whole universe. Our teacher not only teaches us what we should do, but he becomes our strength when we try to put it into practice. He becomes our rock to rely upon and our fellow traveller. He is like a tree and we are its branches. Like a branch we are always united with the tree, in constant contact with it. Faith is this intimate relationship with Christ. Faith cannot be the fruit of our studying and learning. Faith is a gift from God. In order that the branch may produce any fruit, first it has to be united with the tree. When we celebrate the Eucharist we celebrate the mystery of faith. We celebrate he unity of Jesus with his believers, the unity of the believers among themselves and the unity with the Father who is all in all. The celebration of the Eucharist sends us to announce this Good News to all: here on earth we can already have a foretaste of eternal life. Hope sustained by faith urges us to walk with confidence towards the day of the final resurrection of a new heaven and a new earth. During the journey, suffering and death will be there, but will be like the sowing of a seed that must die in the soil before being born into a huge, beautiful tree of life.
