Chapter — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
Chapter II. On the necessity of theological hope
Just as there is a necessity of means and a necessity of precept for faith, so likewise there exists this twofold necessity of hope. Hence let there be:
543. Proposition 1. Habitual hope infused by God is necessary for salvation for children as well as adults, and always has been necessary by necessity of means.
It is proved. No one will obtain eternal salvation without sanctifying grace. But together with sanctifying grace all the theological virtues are infused.50 Therefore hope also will necessarily be present together with sanctifying grace. Hence the Council of Trent teaches: "Faith, unless hope and charity are added to it, neither unites perfectly with Christ nor makes one a living member of His body."51
50 Cf. above, n. 472.
544. Proposition 2. Actual hope, or some act of hope, has always been necessary for salvation for all adults having the use of reason, by necessity of means.
It is proved. a) No adult obtains eternal salvation without theological faith, as was proved above, n. 496. But faith is the substance of things to be hoped for. Therefore wherever there is true and perfect faith, there also an act of hope is elicited. And indeed the first movement of the will which connaturally follows faith is confidence of obtaining salvation.
b) Moreover, eternal salvation is given to all adults as a reward and not as a pure inheritance. But no one of sound mind works for some reward unless he has firm confidence of obtaining it. Hence St. Paul says: "For by hope we have been saved."52
c) It is added that no one will obtain eternal salvation without final perseverance. But final perseverance does not fall under merit strictly so called (as is taught in the treatise on grace), but can only be obtained by prayer. But true impetratory prayer is impossible without firm hope and confidence, since this is an essential property of prayer. Therefore hope is absolutely necessary for obtaining eternal salvation. St. Augustine says fittingly: "The house of God [beatitude] is founded by believing, raised up by hoping, perfected by loving."53
52 Rom. 8, 24.
53 Sermo 27, c. 1 (Migne, Patr. lat. 38, 178).
545. Proposition 3. An act of hope is also necessary for all adults having the use of reason by necessity of a positive divine precept.
It is proved. Very many places from Sacred Scripture are brought forward in which that precept is contained, e.g.: "Hope in Him, all the congregation of the people."54 "Command the rich of this world not ... to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God."55 St. Paul inculcates the precept of hope especially upon the rich, because riches are not rarely an obstacle to hoping in a higher beatitude than that which riches give. But to all the same Apostle says: "Let us live piously in this world, expecting the blessed hope."56
The divine precept of hope obliges just as the precept of faith does, namely, per se and per accidens.
It obliges per se:
At the beginning of the moral life, i.e. at the beginning of perfect use of reason. The reason is that then the precept of faith obliges. But faith in God the rewarder necessarily causes an act of hope.
At the article of death. For if ever hope is necessary, then certainly this is at the article of death, when man is constituted at the boundary of this and the other life, and when he is about to receive the recompense for his merits at once.
At some times in life, as is clear from the condemnation of the proposition already cited above: "A man is never, at any time of his life, bound to elicit an act of faith, hope, and charity by force of the divine precepts pertaining to these virtues."57 - But if it is asked how often a man is bound to elicit an act of theological hope, authors do not agree, and there are the same dissensions and uncertainties which were indicated above, n. 502, concerning the act of faith. For practice there is no difficulty, since formal hope is not necessarily required, but virtual hope suffices, and any Christian living and praying religiously already sufficiently satisfies this precept by any pious deprecatory prayer, eliciting an act of virtual hope.
It obliges per accidens:
When a grave temptation against hope urges, e.g. a temptation of desperation, which cannot be conquered otherwise than through an act of hope; or if other temptations urge, which must be conquered either by prayer or by the very hope of divine help. Hence it can rightly be said: An act of hope obliges as often as there is an obligation of asking divine help.
When a precept must be fulfilled which cannot be done without an act of hope, e.g. the precept of receiving the sacrament of penance, the precept of praying, the precept of expelling admitted desperation, etc.
54 Ps. 61, 9.
55 1 Tim. 6, 17.
56 Tit. 2, 12 sq.
57 Denz. n. 1101.
546. Corollary. The excellence and honesty of hope follow from what has been said, as does the falsity of Quietism and Semiquietism. For if hope is so commended and commanded in Sacred Scripture, it cannot be anything except honest and excellent. Hence the Council of Trent establishes: "If anyone says that the just ought not, for the good works which have been done in God, to expect and hope for an eternal recompense from God through His mercy and the merit of Jesus Christ, if by acting well and by keeping the divine commandments they have persevered even to the end, let him be anathema."58 Therefore falsely do many modern non-Catholics despise us as mercenaries, as though we did not live virtuously except for the obtaining of a reward. Certainly we live virtuously for the obtaining of beatitude, but we openly profess that this beatitude consists in union with God. Therefore God and His glory is our last end and the supreme motive of our actions. And so any good Catholic can say with St. Paul: "I wished myself to be anathema from Christ for my brethren";59 but also: "I pursue toward the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus";60 and: "As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day."61 - Quietism underwent diverse modifications in the course of time. Eckhart already seems to have erred concerning the utility of hope, and therefore the proposition was condemned by John XXII: "Those who do not intend things, nor honors, nor utility, nor internal devotion, nor sanctity, nor reward, nor the kingdom of heaven, but have renounced all these things, even what is their own, in those men God is honored."62 But naked and crude Quietism was defended by Michael de Molinos (1640-1696), who taught 68 propositions condemned by Innocent XI.63 Thus, e.g., his proposition 12 was condemned: "He who has given his free will to God ought to have care about nothing, neither hell, nor paradise, nor ought he to have a desire of his own perfection, nor of virtues, nor of his own sanctity, nor of his own salvation, the hope of which he ought to purge away."64 - Semiquietism indeed does not reject hope as something illicit, but teaches that there is a habitual state of love without hope. This doctrine was proposed by Fenelon65 (1651-1715), bishop of Cambrai, but after the condemnation made by Innocent XII in 1699 he revoked it. Among the propositions condemned concerning this matter is found this one: "There is a habitual state of the love of God, which is pure charity and without any admixture of one's own interest. Neither fear of punishments nor desire of rewards has any further part in it. God is no longer loved on account of merit, nor on account of perfection, nor on account of happiness to be found in loving Him."66
58 Sess. 6, can. 26 de iustif. (Denz. n. 836).
59 Rom. 9, 3.
60 Phil. 3, 14.
61 2 Tim. 4, 8.
62 Denz. n. 508.
64 Denz. n. 1232.
65 Explications des maximes des Saints sur la vie intérieure, Paris 1697.
66 Denz. n. 1327.