Page 201 - Built For God Handbook (Annotated and Explained Edition) - The Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching - The New Evangelization - Pope John Paul II

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The first commandment of scripture is that there is only the one Lord, our
God, and no other god to whom a comparison could be made. God offers us
three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. These merge with the three
treasures mentioned here: love, moderation, and humility. They thus
become humble faith, hopeful moderation, and selfless love by which we
are to live.

The power of knowing we are totally and completely loved by God is that we
can be set free from all fear. That love has shown itself to be more powerful
than even death, through the resurrection of the Son of God from the dead
to a new, eternal life God wants to share with us. Thus, ultimately, we can
be free even from fear of death itself.

When one lives with hopeful moderation, our expectations are minimal, so
gratitude and generosity come easily to us. The virtue of humility makes it
easier for us to be content with what we have and make our way through life
with greater serenity.

There is also an opposite pattern in our lives to humble faith, hopeful
moderation and selfless love, and that is doubt, despair and death. When
we lose our faith in a God who loves us, we begin to doubt. When we doubt,
we begin to lose hope and despair. When we despair, we lose our ability to
love and begin to die, for the opposite of love is not hate, but death. It is
love, and only love, that conquers all things and affords the security and
serenity that makes up true freedom.

b
a Job 36:22-33; Psalm 113:1-2; 1 Corinthians 13:4-13; Colossians 3:12;
d
c
Galatians 5:22-23; 1 John 4:18; Luke 12:32-34; Luke 14:10-11;
e
f Proverbs 14:12; Romans 8:28-38.
g