The German writer Josef Pieper (d 1997) described our supernatural life as having three main currents. First, we have knowledge of God surpassing what we can know about Him naturally because He reveals it to us (faith). Next, we live by the patient expectation that what we believe God promises will indeed be fulfilled (hope). Then, there is our response of love of the God whom we come to know by faith as well as love for neighbour (charity).
Speaking of these currents, Holy Church’s traditional, Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite speaks to us of the theological virtues in the Collect for this 13th Sunday after Pentecost:
