What Kind of Hope Do You Have?

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I sense people are collectively holding their breath, waiting to see what happens with the election and the Covid infection rate. Who will be in power? Will we shut down again? When will we go back to the way things were? There is much anxiety and people are in need of hope.

We need hope but let’s make sure we have the hope that God wants us to have and not stop short with a worldly idea of hope.

There are three different types of hope; first there is the feeling of hope; then there is the hope for good things of this world; and finally, there is Christian Hope – that is, the theological virtue of hope.

There is a hope that is a neutral emotion or a feeling that prompts you to pursue a difficult or demanding goal. Before the season begins the feeling of hope prompts the athlete to work hard for a championship.

The feeling of hope is neutral. Whether it becomes good or bad depends on your goal. If you have hope for good goal, then that feeling is good. I hope 1000s of people begin to live this simple way of life of friendship, good conversation and the Rosary as members of this Movement so that 10s of 1000s come to friendship with Jesus.

We can have hope for a bad goal: I hope I don’t get caught cheating on this test. Hope for the wrong goal is bad.

What makes the feeling of hope good or bad is whether its directed to the right goal. To what goals does the feeling of hope raise within you? What are your hopes and dreams?

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Magnanimity and Hope

Some goals are difficult to attain but worth pursuing: Gainful employment, education, marriage and a family, good health, the ability to retire with financial security. These are all good goals to pursue and yes, they can involve difficulty.

Here we need not only the feeling of hope that prompts us to the achieve the goal, we also need a human virtue – the virtue of  magnanimity – which is the virtue, that is, the habit to pursue difficult but worthy goals.

We must keep in mind that ultimately these good goals, a successful profession, financial security, and education, good health, a family, are things not totally within our control – they may be prevented by all kinds of things: 

The goal of education may be prevented by family obligations;

The goal of a family may be prevented by infertility and inability to adopt;

That doesn’t mean we should give up on these goals too easily, which many people do; but it does mean that they shouldn’t be the basis for our ultimate happiness, our ultimate hope which is union with God in Heaven.

What do you hope for most.

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The hope that all people need is one that directs us to a goal that is unshakeable and offered to everyone regardless of circumstances or background.

This is the theological virtue of hope, Christian hope by which we strive for heaven as something which is difficult but possible with God’s grace, even though it’s not guaranteed.

When we say what we need right now is hope – that doesn’t mean hope that that we hope for things to go back to the way they were in January or that the American way of life will come back soon, or the pandemic will end or the economy will flourish … these may or may not happen and they are not ultimately up to us.

Christian Hope means a renewed commitment to set our sights on heaven with the knowledge that God will help us get there if we persevere in doing our part. That is the only hope we can bank on because that is the only hope that will never disappoint.

Do I fall into the trap of living in hope for uncertain and fleeing things or have I set my hope on God and Heaven?

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The two sins which destroy hope are presumption and despair

Hope is not optimism that things will work out automatically in this life or the next. Hope is the determination to be relentless in pursuing our salvation and that of others.

Both despair – giving up – and presumption – taking it for granted – kill our resolution to work for heaven. And getting into heaven doesn’t just take care of itself because it demands perfection which takes and infinite amount of grace from God and a lot of effort from us. Don’t misunderstand – you cannot make yourself fit for heaven by your effort alone – it takes God’s grace. But God cant make you fit for heaven either without your effort. Both are required. That is why it is dangerous to presume – to take for granted we are going to heaven. Because then we apply little or no effort.

Since we presume we are all going to get to heaven, we make the mistake of investing all our effort in earthly projects. All earthly projects end. Are we storing up treasure for heaven? Are we putting in our effort to reach transforming union with God?

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One way we do our part to reach heaven is to grow in the theological virtue of hope. How do we do that?

1.  Cultivate the feeling of hope to prompt us to strive for heaven with the virtue of hope

a.  We do that by imagining heaven

b.  Make a list of your top peak experiences and imagine that feeling forever – that is a foreshadowing of heaven and it will make you want to go there because Heaven is the fulfillment of all good desires perfectly and infinitely

2.  Do things that prepare you for heaven

a.  Cultivate the habit of restful gratitude by sitting outside in silence in gratitude to God for all he has done 

3.  As Jesus says in Matthew 25 – identify someone who is in need and serve Jesus Christ in them so you can be a sheep and not a goat

4.   Think about which of your vices would make heaven not heaven for others and make a concrete resolution to work on that vice to transform it.

5.   Since we know heaven is beyond our natural powers – ask God to give the grace for final perseverance