Have you ever heard these words spoken to you? More than likely, yes. In all our relationships, faith, hope, and love are essential to establishing bonds of friendship. To have faith in another person requires a deep level of certainty, most importantly knowing who they are and how they think. Once you fully know the person, you are more free to love and trust them.

If this is true of human relationships, should it also be true in our friendship with God – who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Yes, and what is even more astounding is that God loved us first (1 John 4:19) and it is He who seeks us. “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself” (CCC, 27).

At our Baptism, He freely gives us the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. Faith enables us to know Him and believe all that He has revealed. While the virtue is infused, the knowledge is not. Therefore, we must intentionally nourish ourselves on His Divine Revelation; that is, God’s communication of Himself. This revelation is contained in the deposit of faith and is made known to us in Scripture, Tradition, and guarded by the Magisterium.

The virtue of faith can be nourished in the following ways:

  • Prayer which enables us to guard our heart by living in communion with God;
  • Study of the truth which is contained in the Deposit Faith.
  • Reception of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, which nourishes our soul with His life and grace;

Just as in human friendship, conversation, presence, and sharing of our thoughts strengthen our relationship. These means also deepen our friendship with God. The more effort we put into a relationship, the more we appreciate and treasure the gift.

God, our loving Father, has shown His fidelity to us and desires for each one of us to live and dwell in Him. His Son, Our Lord and Savior, has restored all things and brought us back into friendship. Let us open our hearts to the Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life as we follow the Son to our final dwelling place, the household of God.

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