Fathers, PNCC

October 22 – St. Augustine from the Enchiridion: On Faith, Hope, and Love

And now regarding love, which the apostle says is greater than the other two — that is, faith and hope — for the more richly it dwells in a man, the better the man in whom it dwells. For when we ask whether someone is a good man, we are not asking what he believes, or hopes, but what he loves. Now, beyond all doubt, he who loves aright believes and hopes rightly. Likewise, he who does not love believes in vain, even if what he believes is true; he hopes in vain, even if what he hopes for is generally agreed to pertain to true happiness, unless he believes and hopes for this: that he may through prayer obtain the gift of love. For, although it is true that he cannot hope without love, it may be that there is something without which, if he does not love it, he cannot realize the object of his hopes. An example of this would be if a man hopes for life eternal — and who is there who does not love that? — and yet does not love righteousness, without which no one comes to it. — Chapter XXXI.