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Hope |
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Hope is essential for Christian life. We have a right and a duty to be confident that God, who has loved us and called us to eternal life, will never abandon us. He will really give us all the graces we need to overcome every obstacle and finally arrive at the perfect life for which we were made (CCC 1817). Scripture repeatedly calls us to trust entirely in God by asking, “[W]ho ever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame?” (Sir 2:10). Christ urged all to place their entire trust in him and never despair: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Lk 12:32). He gladly came to sinners and, reassuring them in all their inclinations to despair, said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28); “For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life” (Jn 6:40). At Baptism God plants in every Christian the theological virtue of hope (CCC 1813). The hope that Christians are given is a divine gift. It is not a shallow human wishing but a sure confidence that God himself gives us power to exercise. His grace calls us to make acts of hope, truthfully speaking the confidence in him that he wishes us to have. He invites all to make their lives more strong and glad by refusing ever to cease hoping in him (CCC 1818). Authentic hope avoids despair and presumption. By despair we would deliberately refuse to believe that God is faithful and to trust that he who can save us indeed will do so (CCC 2091). Presumption would lead us to act foolishly, as if we could be saved by our own power or without doing the things God gladly makes it entirely possible for us to do so as to reach everlasting life (CCC 2092).
See: Despair; Presumption; Redemption; Religion, Virtue of; Theological Virtues. |
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