YOUCAT Question n. 299 - Part VIII. What is meant by a “virtue”?
(Youcat
answer - repeated) A virtue is an interior disposition, a positive habit, a
passion that has been placed at the service of the good.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 1819) Christian
hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin
and model in the hope of Abraham, who
was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was
purified by the test of the sacrifice (Cf. Gen 17:4-8; 22:1-18). "Hoping
against hope, he believed, and thus became the father of many nations"
(Rom 4:18).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). That means that we must change on our
way to God. By our human abilities we can do that only in fits and starts. With
his grace God supports the human virtues and gives us, above and beyond that,
the so-called supernatural virtues (305), which help us to come closer to God
and live more securely in his light.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 1820) Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus'
preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land;
they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of
Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us
in the "hope that does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5). Hope is the
"sure and steadfast anchor of the soul… that enters… where Jesus has gone
as a forerunner on our behalf" (Heb 6:19-20). Hope is also a weapon that
protects us in the struggle of salvation: "Let us… put on the breastplate
of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation" (1 Thess
5:8). It affords us joy even under trial: "Rejoice in your hope, be
patient in tribulation" (Rom 12:12). Hope is expressed and nourished in
prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads
us to desire.
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