Let us, therefore, take these three divine virtues for the subject of
our consideration.

I. Faith is the first of the three divine virtues; it is the foundation
of the other virtues. Without faith in God, in His revelations and
promises, there can be no Christian hope, no Christian charity. For
this reason faith is the foundation of virtuous living: Christian faith
is a virtue infused by God into our souls by which we are enabled to
believe firmly all that which God has revealed and which the infallible
Catholic Church proposes for our belief.

An act of faith requires the use of the understanding and the use of
the will. The mysteries surpass our natural understanding; they are,
furthermore, to be believed in a supernatural manner, and we require,
therefore, the supernatural light of faith, added to the natural light
of our understanding, and we require also that our natural willpower be
strengthened by the supernatural power of grace. This light and this
power we receive in Baptism. The supernatural light of faith qualifies
us to understand that the truths revealed by God are divine.

In order to believe it does not suffice to know the divine truths as
the Church teaches them, we must also, of our own free will, assent to
them, and acknowledge as divine truths even those mysteries which
surpass our human understanding. To that extent faith is a matter of
the will. God, through the light and the power of the grace of faith,
comes to the assistance of our reason and will, in order that we may
confidently submit both to divine revelation, that is, to God. In order
that the infused virtue of faith may be meritorious for us, we must
co-operate with grace by readily submitting our understanding and our will
to divine revelation. Then this virtue of faith will not only be an