WHAT CAUSES THE MORAL VIRTUES TO DEVELOP?

Abstract

The pages of the New Testament repeatedly emphasize that the actual happiness of the believer results from a sustained union with the crucifi ed and risen Christ. Jesus himself points out that remaining united with him requires a special action of divine providence in the life of those called to Christian belief. The Gospel of John, for example, puts these words on the lips of Christ: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn 6:44). Of course, since many other spiritual benefi ts result from the union of the believer with Christ, one cannot simply equate the whole effect of incorporation into Christ with the practice of virtue. Still, the moral life does remain a principal area where the presence of grace makes itself felt in the individual, especially through the theological virtues. For a variety of reasons, theologians today generally do not speak about the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity as constitutive elements of the moral life. On the contrary, prevailing theological method prefers to study these virtues as special topics in either systematic or biblical theology. Neglect of the theological virtues in moral theology remains regrettable for several reasons. First, each theological virtue possesses its own objective interest which it devel