Sunday, December 16, 2012
387. What is hope? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 387 repetition) Hope is the theological virtue by
which we desire and await from God eternal life as our happiness, placing our
trust in Christ's promises and relying on the help of the grace of the Holy
Spirit to merit it and to persevere to the end of our earthly life.
“In brief”
(CCC 1843)
By hope we desire, and with steadfast trust await from God, eternal life and
the graces to merit it.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 1820)
Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus' preaching in the
proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes
raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that
leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the
merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the "hope that
does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5). Hope is the "sure and steadfast
anchor of the soul… that enters… where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our
behalf" (Heb 6:19-20). Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the
struggle of salvation: "Let us… put on the breastplate of faith and
charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation" (1 Thess 5:8). It affords
us joy even under trial: "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in
tribulation" (Rom 12:12). Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer,
especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to
desire.
Reflection
(CCC 1821) We can therefore hope
in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will
(Cf. Rom 8:28-30; Mt 7:21). In every circumstance, each one of us should hope,
with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end" (Mt 10:22; cf.
Council of Trent: DS 1541) and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal
reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the
Church prays for "all men to be saved" (1 Tim 2:4). She longs to be
united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven: Hope, O my soul,
hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything
passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and
turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the
more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice
one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end (St.
Teresa of Avila, Excl. 15:3). [END]
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