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NOVEMBER 1, 2007
The Virtue of Hope
“Hope springs eternal,” as the saying goes, but at some crisis points in history, such as the present time, hope seems hardly to spring up at all. Despair seems to be winning out. Confidence in the future and trust in God’s love are not easy to come by. How important then for us in the Church today to be people of hope. How essential are sentinels of the dawn of God’s mercy, messengers of hope overflowing with trust in God. This is the mission given to all at the moment of Baptism, when we receive all the theological virtues.
Turning despair around
Some things are best understood through their opposite. We understand courage, for example, only after experiencing fear. We long for peace after a time of war. The beauty of hope shines forth in an age of despair.
Despair is not something a person falls into, although it certainly plunges the soul into the darkness of separation from God. Despair, in fact, is a decision of a calculating mind that has calculated disastrously. Those who despair decide not to believe in the love of God. In so doing, they stand in conflict with reality, while they often stridently protest that they alone are being realistic.
Despair is the most dangerous of sins even though it is not the most serious (sins against charity hold that distinction!). Its danger lies in its capacity to undercut faith in God. Persons who hope see the terrible forces of evil in the world, but they maintain their confidence in God. They believe what the Lord says through the Prophet Isaiah (40:30-31), “Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.”
The beginning of despair is sloth, a sadness and lethargy of the soul that closes itself off from God (Here we are not talking about the psychological state of depression). While despair may manifest itself in laziness, it more frequently is seen in busyness, restlessness and workaholism. Having no confidence in the providence of God, those who despair try to take things into their own hands and create a future by themselves. This amounts to an actual flight from God and a flight from one’s mission in life.
Those who despair set their goals too low, trusting only in what their own efforts and material things can provide, refusing to trust in “the future full of hope” (Jer 29:11) that God alone can provide. Despair says: I don’t believe God can save me so I will rely entirely on myself.
Despair’s twin sister: Presumption
There are two ways for hope to be destroyed: despair, which refuses to trust in God, and presumption, which is a fraudulent over-confidence. It amounts to trusting in oneself instead of God. John the Baptist warned against the sin of presumption (Mt 3:9), “And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”
Presumption usually arises out of arrogance and pride. Instead of acknowledging their complete dependence on God, the proud foolishly think that God will save them, no matter what evil they have done. On the contrary, persons of hope put all their trust in Jesus’ words (Jn 15:5), “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”
Presumption can take two forms: one that has been traditionally called Pelagianism, which presumes that God’s help is not needed to overcome our sins and to win eternal life. Such presumption sees no need for God’s grace by way of the Church or the sacraments; just do good and avoid evil, relying on your own ingenuity and strength.
The second form of presumption comes from belief in pre-destination, an over-confidence in having been chosen and saved by God without regard for free acceptance and on-going response to God’s grace.
Presumption, in any form, as well as despair, gets in the way of our ability to pray. One who despairs does not pray because he is convinced his prayer will not be heard. One motivated by presumption sees no need to pray because he sees no need for God’s help.
The beauty beyond
St. Gregory of Nyssa, a great theologian of the fifth century, tells us, “Hope always draws the soul from the beauty that is seen to what is beyond, always kindles the desire for the hidden through what is perceived.”
Through the Holy Spirit, we can “abound in hope” (Cf. Rm 15:13). Received first at Baptism, hope subsequently increases as we cooperate with God’s grace. As we do so, hope strengthens us to bear with hardships in the present. It helps us to repent after we have sinned and to trust in God’s mercy to forgive and restore. It helps us, no matter how tough things are in the present, to look to the future with glad expectation.
One of the Fathers of the Church, Diadocus of Photike, said (“On Spiritual Perfection,” Preamble), “Faith sees only what is, and hope sees what is to be. Love loves only what is, and hope loves what is to be.” Hope corresponds to the natural longings of our hearts. We yearn to be happy, not just for awhile but forever! As the Catechism says quite aptly (#1818), hope “keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude.”
For further reading:
-- Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1817-1821
-- Josef Pieper, “Faith, Hope, Love,” pp. 89-138
-- Benedict Ashley, OP, “Living the Truth in Love,” pp. 151-175
Copyright 2007 The Catholic Sun.
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