Jesus teaches that God’s kingdom resembles a farmer who plants good seed, only to have an enemy sow weeds among the wheat. When the servants ask to pull up the weeds, the farmer refuses, fearing they’ll uproot the wheat as well, and instead commands that both grow together until harvest, when the weeds will be burned and the wheat gathered into the barn. (Matt 13: 24-43)

Last week, I presented a brief teaching on the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity— because they “inform all the moral virtues and give life to them.” (CCC,1841)

The Church teaches that these virtues are not merely human motivation. They are “infused by God into the souls of the faithful,” so that we can act as God’s children and “merit eternal life.” (CCC,1813)

In the life of faith, there are gifts that do not simply help us “manage” the spiritual journey—they guide it. St. Paul teaches that faith, hope, and love abide, and that “the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). Pope St. John Paul II describes these virtues “like three stars” that rise in the sky of our spiritual life to lead us to God, forming a “triptych” whose apex is love (agape). (Pope St. John Paul II’s General Audience, Nov 22, 2000)