Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
The Catechism of the Church tells us that there are three virtues that directly govern our relationship with God.
Those virtues are faith, hope, and charity.
Call them the three theological virtues.
And while it is possible to have theological virtue of faith without charity,
such faith is dead and will not save us
because belief in God and in what he tells us leads us to do what he tells us.
We can believe that he has a right.
To tell us what to do, but unless we do it, our faith is dead.
When we do the word of God, when we put it into practice,
we are acting out of charity, binding our will to God and doing what he desires of us.
Hope is a sort of middle virtue because it is based on faith,
on the truth that comes to us from God,
and it is a deep conviction.
That what God desires of us is really best and that ultimately everything is ordained,
not only for his greater glory, but for our greater good as well.
Ultimately, he has ordained things to get us to heaven, and therefore we are free.
When we believe in what he has revealed to us, we find ourselves at liberty to do what is pleasing to him,
because we know that we are free.
We know that on the basis of what he has taught us,
all things will work for his greater glory and our ultimate good.
And these three virtues are manifested in the man who was full of leprosy.
He had faith that Jesus could cure him,
and he had hope that God's plan for him would work out for God's greater glory,
and for his greater good.
This is why when he comes before the Lord and requests his healing,
he does it in the humblest possible way,
not asking God to do what he wants,
but witnessing to his faith in the power of God
and knowing that whatever God ordained for him would be best.
So he says to the Lord,
Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.
He says, if you will it, I know that I will be made clean.
And he steps out of his own little world and approaches our Lord,
and we're told he prostrates himself before our Lord,
and he expresses this faith and this hope.
Faith, you know, he prostrates himself in an act of adoration.
Faith, in that he knows that the Lord can cure him.
Hope, in that he knows that the Lord can cure him.
He knows that whatever the Lord chooses for him will be best.
And ultimately, of course, this opens him up to true charity,
to love for God.
He is completely disposed to do whatever God wants of him.
And, of course, our Lord's will is our greater good,
and in this respect, it was also that this man should be rewarded for his faith
and be delivered from his leprosy,
which, of course, also represented the leprosy of God.
Our sin, and our Lord delivered him from it all.
I do will it be made clean.
And the leprosy immediately left him.
And so, as we reflect upon the power of God's grace manifested to us
in the mystery of Christmas and in the mystery of Epiphany,
we can reflect that all virtue,
that all love is one,
and that ultimately the goal is to love God with our whole heart,
our whole mind, and our whole soul.
That love is based upon the truth that is revealed to us in Christ and in his church.
And that truth should give us confidence.
We should have confidence in what the Lord has revealed to us,
even if sometimes what he asks of us is difficult.
The moral standards are very high.
The crosses that he asks us to carry sometimes are very heavy.
But hope leads to trust.
Hope is about the eternal life that God has destined us for heaven
and gives us everything we need to get to heaven.
But we are here now, and we don't know when God is going to call us home.
And in between, there's all kinds of things that happen to us
that are beyond our control,
and we don't see how they can change.
And we don't see how they can contribute to the end of our salvation.
But God sees that, and he knows what his plan is for us.
And that if we accept his holy will,
then we will ultimately get to heaven.
And even in this life, we will find peace and happiness.
Virtue ultimately is one.
It's all directed towards charity.
And that freedom by which we give God our hearts,
we give it to him unconditionally,
limitedly, and unreservedly.
This is the manifestation of God's glory to us,
the presence of his grace with us.
May we always be observant of it, witness it,
and have confidence in it, as the leper did,
who was delivered from his sin and from his ailments,
so that he could praise God and give him glory.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.