Section 1: Nature, Object, and Necessity of Hope

1. NATURE OF HOPE.—Hope is an act of the will by which we desire to possess God, and firmly trust that through His goodness and fidelity we shall obtain Him, together with the necessary means, both natural and supernatural, of reaching Heaven.¹

¹ Rom. VIII, 24 sq.; Heb. XI, 1.—Cfr. Peter Lombard, Sent., III, dist. 26, n. 1: “It is hope by which spiritual and eternal things are hoped for, that is, awaited with confidence. For hope is the certain expectation of future beatitude, proceeding from the grace of God and preceding merits, either charity which precedes hope by nature, or the thing hoped for, that is, eternal beatitude. For to hope for something without merits can be called not hope but presumption.” (Migne, P. L., CXCII, 811).—IDEM, Comm. in Epist. ad Rom., c. 5, 2–5: “Hope is the certain expectation of future glory, which seems vain to human reason, but is confirmed by the testimony of power, that is, by patience or miracles.” (P. L., CXCI, 1380).

Hope, therefore, may be either a transient act or a permanent habit (habitus). Both as an act and as a habit it has two essential constituents, namely, the effective desire of salvation and a firm trust in the promises and the providence of God. This twofold note distinguishes the Christian virtue of hope from resignation or apathy on the one hand, and, on the other, from presumption, which is an inordinate confidence of attaining Heaven without using the prescribed means.²

² 1 Pet. V, 6–10.

a) Through these two constituents of desire and trust, hope, though essentially distinct from faith and charity, is intimately united with both—with faith, because it is based on belief in God and shares its motives and object; with charity, because hope without the love of God would be fruitless and ineffective.³ “Charity flows from faith,” says St. Ambrose, “and hope from charity, and together they flow back and forth as in a sort of holy intercourse.”⁴ And St. Augustine: “Hope is impossible without charity. . . . Hence charity cannot exist without hope, nor hope without charity, nor either of the two without faith.”⁵ And in another place: “He who does not love, believes in vain, even though his belief is true, and hopes in vain, even though the things he hopes for appertain to real happiness. . . .”⁶

³ Luke VIII, 47–50; Rom. V, 1–5; XV, 13; 1 Cor. XIII, 13; Eph. III, 12; Col. I, 4 sq.; Heb. VI, 19 sq.; XI, 1.—Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, c. 7, can. 12.

⁴ Expos. Evang. sec. Luc., l. VIII, n. 30: “From faith comes charity, from charity hope, and in turn they flow back into one another in a certain holy circle.” (Migne, P. L., XV, 1774).

⁵ Enchiridion, c. 8: “What can be hoped for that is not believed? Moreover, something that is not hoped for can also be believed. For which of the faithful does not believe in the punishments of the impious? Yet he does not hope for them. . . . Now what shall I say about love, without which faith profits nothing? Hope, however, cannot exist without love (Jas. ii, 19). . . . Therefore neither is love without hope, nor hope without love, nor either without faith.” (Migne, P. L., XL, 234).

⁶ IDEM, ibid., c. 117: “When it is asked whether anyone is a good man, it is not asked what he believes or hopes, but what he loves. He who loves rightly without doubt believes and hopes rightly; but he who does not love believes in vain, even if the things he believes are true, and hopes in vain, even if the things he hopes for are taught to pertain to true happiness, unless he also believes and hopes that it can be granted to him when he asks, so that he may love.” (P. L., XL, 286).—St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, qu. 17, art. 6: “A virtue is called theological because it has God as the object to which it adheres. A person can adhere to another in two ways: in one way for his own sake, and in another way insofar as one comes through him to something else. Charity, therefore, makes man adhere to God for His own sake, uniting the mind of man to God through the affection of love. Hope and faith, however, make man adhere to God as to a principle from which certain things come to us. From God there come to us both the knowledge of truth and the attainment of perfect goodness. Faith, therefore, makes man adhere to God insofar as He is for us the principle of knowing truth; for we believe those things to be true which are said to us by God. Hope makes man adhere to God insofar as He is for us the principle of perfect goodness, namely, insofar as through hope we rely upon divine assistance to obtain beatitude.”

b) Hope, being on the one hand an indestructible natural tendency and, on the other, a virtue supernaturally infused by God, may by practice become an acquired virtue and thereby truly moral. Its de facto object lies in the future, since eternal beatitude cannot be fully realized in the present life. Patient resignation to the will of God here on earth, with a view to eternal happiness in Heaven, demands a moral effort and entails sacrifices which not infrequently assume heroic proportions.

St. Paul calls Christ “the hope of glory”⁷ and says that God glorified us in Him; but he adds: “Your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you shall also appear with him in glory.”⁸ The higher life of the Christian believer, therefore, whilst he sojourns in this vale of tears, is subject to manifold hindrances, which will not disappear entirely until Christ reveals to us His hidden glory in Heaven.

⁷ Col. I, 27.

⁸ Rom. VIII, 30; Col. III, 3 sq.

To this consideration may be added another. No man is certain that he will reach Heaven. God has created us, but He will not save us, without our coöperation. No one is crowned unless he has fought the good fight, and only those obtain eternal life who have kept the commandments, abstained from mortal sin, or purged themselves from it if they had the misfortune to fall. Hence our ultimate fate depends upon how we wage war against the enemies of our soul, and we must “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.”⁹ This explains why Sacred Scripture warns men against inordinate confidence and exhorts them to strive unceasingly for sanctification by performing good works. In this terrific struggle Christian hope proves itself a moral virtue, supernatural both in origin and substance, founded solely upon “the word of the truth of the gospel.”¹⁰

⁹ Matt. VII, 21 sq.; 1 Cor. VI, 9; Phil. II, 12; 1 Pet. I, 17; 1 John II, 3–6; Apoc. XXI, 27.—Peter Lombard, Comm. in Ep. ad Rom., c. 5: “It is no great thing to glory in prosperity; the upright of heart glory even in tribulations, knowing the greatness of the reward, and that when tribulation has ended they will acquire an infinite reward.” (Migne, P. L., CXCI, 1379).

¹⁰ Col. I, 5; cfr. 1 Cor. X, 13; 2 Pet. I, 10.—Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, c. 13, can. 15, 16.

2. THE OBJECT OF HOPE.—The material object (obiectum materiale) of hope is Heaven, i. e., the beatific vision of God, and the means that are necessary to obtain it. Some writers distinguish a primary and a secondary object. The primary object is God,¹¹ whereas the secondary object are the graces,—natural and supernatural, spiritual and physical,—which He grants for the purposes of salvation.¹²

¹¹ Gen. XV, 1; Tob. II, 16–18; John XIV, 1–3; Tit. III, 7; 1 John II, 25.—St. Augustine, De Civit. Dei, l. XXII, c. 30, n. 1: “The reward of virtue will be He Himself [God], who gave the virtue and promised Himself to it, than whom nothing can be better or greater.” (Migne, P. L., XLI, 801).—IDEM, Tr. in Ioa., III, n. 21: “Do not love God for the sake of a reward; let Him Himself be your reward.” (P. L., XXXV, 1405).—IDEM, Enarr. in Ps., LXXIX, n. 14: “You [God] will be the whole reward of the justified.” (P. L., XXXVI, 1028).—St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, qu. 17, art. 2: “The hope of which we now speak attains God by relying on His help to obtain the good hoped for. An effect must be proportionate to its cause. And therefore the good which we ought primarily and principally to hope for from God is the infinite good proportionate to the power of God who assists us, for it belongs to infinite power to lead to an infinite good. This good is eternal life, which consists in the enjoyment of God Himself. For nothing less is to be hoped for from Him than He Himself, since His goodness, by which He communicates good things to creatures, is not less than His essence. And therefore the proper and principal object of hope is eternal beatitude.”

¹² Matt. VI, 9–13, 33; 1 Tim. IV, 8.—St. Augustine, Enchirid., c. 114: “Of all the things that are to be faithfully believed, only those pertain to hope which are contained in the Lord’s Prayer.” (Migne, P. L., XL, 285).—IDEM, ibid., c. 115: “In the Evangelist Matthew the Lord’s Prayer appears to contain seven petitions, in three of which eternal things are asked, and in the remaining four temporal things, which nevertheless are necessary for obtaining eternal things.” (P. L., XL, 285).—Chr. Pesch, S.J., Praelect. Dogmat., Vol. VIII, 2nd ed., Freiburg 1900, pp. 205 sqq.—Pohle-Preuss, Grace, Actual and Habitual, 4th ed., St. Louis 1921, pp. 3 sqq.

The primary formal object of hope is God, in so far as He is the Sovereign Good and, as such, capable of satisfying the human heart, and be- cause He has promised us eternal salvation for the sake of Jesus Christ; in other words, God’s infinite goodness towards us, His omnipotence, and His fidelity to His promises.¹³ Secondary motives are the merits acquired through His grace, which are not fruits of human righteousness, but free gifts of God,¹⁴ and the intercession of the Saints or of our fellowmen; for in all these things the hope of the Christian is directed medi- ately to God Himself, or to Christ, who is “the one mediator between God and men.”¹⁵

¹³ Acts IV, 12; Rom. IX, 32; Eph. I, 19 sq.; II, 4–7; Phil. I, 6; 2 Tim. I, 12; Heb. VI, 17 sq.; X, 23; 1 Pet. I, 3; V, 7.—St. Augustine, De Trinit., l. XIII, c. 10, n. 13: “What was so necessary for raising up our hope as that it should be shown to us how highly God values us and how greatly He loves us? And what more manifest and splendid indication of this could there be than that the Son of God deigned to enter into fellowship with our nature?” (Migne, P. L., XLII, 1024).—St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, qu. 18, art. 4, ad 2: “Hope does not rest principally upon grace already possessed, but upon divine omnipotence and mercy, through which even one who does not have grace can obtain it and thus arrive at eternal life. Everyone who has faith is certain of the omnipotence and mercy of God.”—Cfr. Ph. Kneib, Die “Lohnsucht” in der christlichen Moral, Vienna 1904, pp. 7 sqq.

¹⁴ Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, c. 16: “Far be it that a Christian man should trust or glory in himself and not in the Lord, whose goodness toward all men is so great that He wills His own gifts to be their merits.”—St. Augustine, Epist., 194 (al. 105), c. 5, n. 19: “What merit does man have before grace, by which merit he might receive grace, since nothing but grace produces every good merit of ours in us, and when God crowns our merits, He crowns nothing other than His own gifts?” (Migne, P. L., XXXII, 880).—IDEM, Serm., 170 (al. 49, De Temp.), n. 10: “When you depart from here, you will receive according to the merits and deeds which you have performed. Then God will crown not so much your merits as His gifts to you.” (P. L., XXXVIII, 932).—IDEM, Serm., 333, n. 5 (P. L., XXXVIII, 1466); Confess., l. IX, c. 13, n. 34 (P. L., XXXII, 778); Enarr. in Ps., 98, n. 8 (P. L., XXXVII, 1246); ibid., 144, n. 11 (P. L., XXXVIII, 1876); ibid., 126, n. 4: “No one has anything good unless he has received it from Him who alone is good.” (P. L., XXXVII, 1670).—On the Catholic doctrine of supernatural merit see Pohle-Preuss, Grace, Actual and Habitual, pp. 397 sqq.; P. O’Neill, Divine Charity, Dublin 1918, pp. 47 sqq.; G. H. Joyce, S.J., The Catholic Doctrine of Grace, London and New York 1920, pp. 158 sqq.

¹⁵ 1 Tim. II, 5; cfr. Heb. XII, 24; Jas. V, 16 sqq.—H. Denifle, O.P., Luther und Luthertum, Vol. I, 2nd ed., pp. 400 sqq.—K. Krogh-Tonning, Der letzte Scholastiker, Freiburg 1904, p. 209.—On Christ as the Mediator of mankind see Pohle-Preuss, Soteriology, 3rd ed., St. Louis 1919, pp. 5 sqq.; on the intercession of the Saints, Pohle-Preuss, Mariology, 3rd ed., St. Louis 1919, pp. 142 sqq.

3. NECESSITY OF HOPE.—a) Hope is a necessary means of salvation for all who have attained the use of reason. Hope corresponds to an elemental need of human nature. “We are saved by hope,” says St. Paul,¹⁶ and Christ Himself demands trust and confidence in God as an indispensable condition for the forgiveness of sins.¹⁷ The sinner must hope (actualiter) in order to prepare himself for justification, and after he has been justified, he must hope (habitualiter) in order to obtain the grace of prayer and to persevere and grow in the favor of God.

¹⁶ Rom. VIII, 24.

¹⁷ Matt. IX, 22, 28–30; Luke XVIII, 42.—Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, c. 6 and 7.

The Church has condemned the opinion that perfect charity excludes hope.¹⁸ This condemnation is in entire harmony with Holy Scripture, which admonishes us again and again to have unlimited confidence in the omnipotence, the goodness, and the mercy of God.¹⁹ b) In proportion to the necessity of hope is the duty of cultivating this virtue, keeping it alive and nourishing it in the soul. Innumerable are the passages in which the Bible exhorts us to hope in God and confide in His mercy.²⁰ However, it is not necessary to make explicit acts of hope, except in times of special temptation against this virtue.²¹ The most effective means of preserving and increasing hope are prayer, meditating on the divine goodness and fidelity, eliciting frequent acts of this virtue, and thanking God for the favors He confers upon us.²² The Church specially recommends the frequent and confident invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the refuge of sinners and the help of Christians.²³

¹⁸ Prop. Damnat. sub Innoc. XI., n. 1 and 23 (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1327, 1349).

¹⁹ Ps. IV, 6; Matt. XI, 12; Heb. X, 23.

²⁰ Ps. XXVI, 14; Luke XII, 32; John XIV, 1; 1 Tim. VI, 17; Heb. X, 35.—Cfr. Prop. Damnat. ab Alex. VII., n. 1 (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1101).

²¹ Gury, Comp. Theol. Mor., I, n. 186.

²² Ps. XXIV, 2 sqq.; Matt. VI, 25 sqq.; Luke XV, 11 sqq.; Rom. V, 1 sqq.; VIII, 23 sqq.; Phil. I, 6.

²³ “Refugium peccatorum,” “Auxilium Christianorum” (Litany of Loreto).—Cfr. Gury, Comp. Theol. Mor., I, n. 188: “The principal remedies opposed to despair are: 1. consideration of the infinite goodness and mercy of God; 2. frequent recollection of the greatest sinners who obtained pardon; 3. meditation on the parables of the holy Gospel, especially of the lost sheep; 4. special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, the refuge of sinners; 5. confidence in Christ affixed to the cross for us, etc.”

READINGS.—Peter Lombard, Sent., III, dist. 16.—St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, qu. 17 sq.—Ad. Tanquerey, Synopsis Theol. Mor., Vol. II, Paris 1905, pp. 396–400.—H. Noldin, S.J., Summa Theol. Mor., Vol. II, 11th ed., pp. 47–54.—A. Lehmkuhl, S.J., Theol. Mor., Vol. I, 11th ed., pp. 240–247.—E. Müller, Theol. Mor., Vol. II, 5th ed., pp. 55–64.—F. Abert, S. Thom. Aqu. Compend. Theol., pp. 457 sq., 461 sqq., 472 sqq.—G. Mayer, System der christl. Hoffnung, Leipsic 1900.—J. B. Ferreres, Comp. Theol. Mor., Vol. I, 9th ed., Barcelona 1918, pp. 192 sqq.—Thos. Slater, A Manual of Moral Theology, Vol. I, pp. 177 sq.—G. H. Joyce, S.J., The Catholic Doctrine of Grace, London and New York 1920, pp. 80 sqq.—P. O’Neill, Divine Charity, Dublin 1918, pp. 28 sqq.