The richness of our religion provides us with much to reflect on and pray over. There is much meaning in the many gifts God has given us: our faith, hope and love, our prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.

St John teaches us directly that the truest meaning of love is God's love for us in sending his son. Indeed, God the Blessed Trinity are themselves the truth of love and so the source, vitality and significance of all love. St John only speaks of love, but we may reflect whether his teaching is applicable to all virtues. The true meaning of faith is that God believes in us before we can believe in God. God loved us so much from all eternity that he created us. Indeed, God believed in us from all eternity and so created us. In spite of everything God still somehow believes in us, else why should he allow us to continue to exist as a human race when it is clear that, instead of going from bad to good and from good to better, we go from bad to worse with each new catastrophe which we inflict on our world and on each other.