Chapter — Konings, Theologia Moralis
CHAPTER II: ON HOPE
- Hope is a supernatural virtue by which, with certain confidence, from the promise of God we expect future beatitude and the means for attaining it.
The primary material object of Hope is God to be possessed, according to that: "I will be thy reward exceeding great." Gen. 15, 1. The secondary material object is all the means necessary for attaining beatitude, as the remission of sins, the grace of God through the merits of Christ, etc.
The formal object is the benignity and fidelity of God in His promises because of the merits of Christ, joined with His omnipotence.1
But the acts included in Hope are desire of eternal beatitude, firm confidence of arriving at it, and a soul raised up against occurring difficulties.
The sins opposed to Hope are despair and presumption. The former is a voluntary diffidence of obtaining beatitude and the means necessary for attaining it. - But the latter is a rash expectation of beatitude or of the means for attaining it.
Notes to n. 269. (1) One adhering to propositions marked by a censure below heresy is guilty of grave sin, and indeed: a. according to St. Alphonsus, L. I. 104, of heresy (according to some, of very grave error), if he denies that those propositions deserve such a censure. The reason is because by this very fact he directly denies the infallibility of the Church, which, according to the common opinion, extends also to these censures. b. If a proposition is fixed with a censure other than that of falsity or error, for instance if it was condemned as scandalous, temerarious, or improbable, and he denies that it is false, he is not indeed guilty of heresy (for the falsity of the proposition is not asserted immediately by the Church), but nevertheless of error, since deductively he opposes himself to the infallibility of the Church; for the falsity of the proposition is deduced by a certain inference from the fact that it is scandalous, etc.; for a true proposition cannot produce scandal or lack grave foundation, at least for any circumstance. I say: for any, etc.; for here there is a question of dogmatic censure, not of prudential censure (as in the case of Galileo). Thus Viva, In damn. Quaest. prodr. n. 2, 18-20, cited by St. Alphonsus in the place cited. - Doctrinal responses of the Sacred Congregations concerning a matter not yet declared by the infallible magisterium of the Church, and not confirmed by the Pontiff speaking ex cathedra, do not indeed demand most firm and absolutely irreformable assent, but nevertheless the obedience of the mind, as containing doctrine safe either simply or for the circumstances. Cf. Mazzella, de Virt. n. 508-524.
- Principles. - I. Hope is required in adults for justification by necessity of means. For man cannot arrive at God, his ultimate end to be attained, unless by his own acts he tends into Him; but this cannot be done without hope. This is also established from the Council of Trent.1
II. Hope is necessary also by necessity of precept, since there is a true precept of eliciting acts of Hope at certain times in life. This is established from the 1st proposition condemned by Alexander VII (see p. XIII), and from the common opinion of the Doctors.
But this precept obliges of itself, like the precept of faith: 1) at the beginning of the use of reason, when namely eternal beatitude has been sufficiently proposed as the end to which each one ought to tend; - 2) in danger of death, namely that he may be strengthened against the temptations then accustomed to arise, and may be borne toward God, the ultimate end soon to be attained; 3) according to St. Alphonsus,2 at least once in any given year; for it is difficult to persevere for so long a time in grace without an act of hope. Yet virtual hope suffices, just as virtual faith does (n. 248, 3°).
Like the precept of faith, it obliges by accident: 1) when from precept an act of other virtues must be elicited, for example of prayer, which cannot be exercised without an act of hope; 2) when temptation urges, and there is danger of consenting unless hope raises up the soul; 3) when a Christian has fallen into mortal sin and is held to strive toward justification;3 4) when he is situated in danger of despair, for hope is a necessary means for overcoming this danger.
- Questions. - Quaer. 1° In how many ways is the sin of presumption committed?
Resp. Chiefly: 1° if you presume to obtain eternal life by your own powers; 2° if you expect it without labor, from the mercy of God alone.4
Quaer. 2° Can there be smallness of matter in sins against Hope?
Resp. 1° Affirmatively as to presumption, although it is grave from its kind.
Resp. 2° Negatively as to despair, unless it is so called improperly, that is, pusillanimity or excessive diffidence concerning oneself. Because of imperfection of the act, it is often venial in sadness and impatience.
Notes to n. 271. (1) Sess. 6, c. 6. (2) H. A. Tr. IV, 18. (3) Trid. Sess. 6, c. 6. (4) L. III. 21.
- Quaer. 3° Is it a sin against Hope to desire to live perpetually in this world, or on the contrary, from weariness to wish for death?
Resp. to the first: Affirmatively, because he who desires this stops in temporal life as in the ultimate end. - Thus commonly.1
Resp. to the second: 1° It is not against Hope of itself, because it is not to withdraw from the ultimate end; 2° nor generally does it exceed venial sin, unless there is express rebellion against the order of divine Providence.
Quaer. 4° Is it presumption 1) because of hope of pardon; 2) with hope of pardon, a) to sin more easily, b) to persevere in sin, c) to repeat sin?
Resp. to the 1st: Affirmatively, if you understand that phrase, because of hope of pardon, in such a way that hope of pardon is the cause why someone sins more easily, or perseveres in sin, or repeats sin. Yet a sin repeated because of hope of pardon must not be confused with a sin repeated precisely for this reason, that it is accused in confession as easily several times as once, although this is a depraved disposition, very injurious to God.
Resp. to the 2nd: Negatively, if you take that phrase, with hope of pardon, in this sense: that hope of pardon to be obtained at some time through proper means only accompanies the sinner while he sins, or perseveres in sin, or repeats sin, without nevertheless being the reason or motive influencing him to sin. Yet men of this sort, if they persevere in sin, are with difficulty excused from grave sin against charity toward themselves, since by the common consent of the Doctors they expose themselves to great danger of damnation.2
Notes to n. 272. (1) L. III. 20. (2) Ib. 21.
- Quaer. 5° What are the remedies of despair?
Resp. The chief ones are the following: 1° consideration of the infinite goodness and mercy of God; - 2° frequent recollection of those men who after very many and most grave sins obtained pardon; - 3° meditation on the parables of the Holy Gospel, especially of the lost sheep; - 4° special devotion toward the Blessed Virgin, refuge of sinners; - 5° confidence in Christ affixed to the cross for us, etc.
- Practical Rules. - First. Let the confessor inspect from what root especially despair in the penitent arises, so that he can apply fitting remedies according to the diverse cause. - But for the most part it is accustomed to arise proximately from apprehension of certain damnation. Remotely, however: 1° from sloth, by which someone thinks the means of salvation too grave, and therefore is deterred from employing them; 2° from lust or other inveterate sins, which turn the mind away from heavenly things, and because of the difficulty of emendation lead to despair; 3° from melancholy, which inclines to sadness and turns away from confidence, which is accustomed to generate joy of soul; 4° from scruples, by which the soul is cast down and oppressed.
Second. Penitents given to despair are to be governed by the confessor with great circumspection, prudence, and patience, according to the diversity of dispositions and the varied kind of despair. Those must be directed in one way who are driven into despair from malice, or from the weight of sins and a flagitious life; in another way those who are impelled to it from pusillanimity, or from diabolical temptation.
Third. Penitents who exhibit themselves as such are not immediately at first glance to be judged as carried away by despair, especially if they live in a Christian manner. For even devout souls are found who are harassed by almost continual temptations of despair; nor is it easily to be believed that they have sinned, especially gravely, although they think they have furnished consent to those temptations; just as excessive fear concerning the danger of salvation must not be confused with despair properly so called.