Chapter II. On the Virtue of Hope

Hope is a supernatural virtue through which, with certain confidence from the promise of God, we expect future beatitude and the means for obtaining it.

The primary material object of hope is God to be possessed. But the secondary object is all the means necessary for obtaining beatitude, such as remission of sins, the grace of God through the merits of Christ, etc.

But the acts included in hope, or the formalities of hope itself, are love, desire of eternal beatitude, firm confidence of arriving at it, and raising up of the soul against occurring difficulties. - Cf. Mazzella, disp. 5, art. 2, § 1; and art. 3, § 2.

The sins opposed to hope are despair and presumption. The former is voluntary diffidence of obtaining beatitude and the means necessary for attaining it. - But the latter is disordered confidence of obtaining beatitude without the means ordained by God.

I Say. Hope in adults is required both by necessity of means and by necessity of precept. The first is clear from the fact that man cannot arrive at obtaining God, his ultimate end, unless by his own acts he tends toward him: but this tendency necessarily supposes hope, indeed, as we said, it is one of the formalities of hope itself. - The other is clear both from the Apostle saying, I Tim. vi, 17: "I command ... not to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God," and from proposition 1 proscribed by Alexander VII and related above, n. 152.

But when, and in what manner, the precept of hope presses is to be determined by the same rules which we established above, n. 153, concerning faith.

Question 1. Can smallness of matter be had in the sin of presumption?

Response. Affirmatively, both because it is commonly admitted by theologians that the sin of presumption is indeed mortal from its genus, but not from its whole genus, and because the malice of this sin finally consists in this, that a good thing is expected in an undue way. Besides, this sin is ordinarily committed by presuming to obtain eternal life either by one's own powers alone, or without any labor, and from divine mercy alone: but through this an injury is not inflicted on God directly and immediately. Therefore. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 21.

Question 2. Is it presumption to commit the same sin several times, because one committed several times is accused as easily as one committed once?

Response. Negatively, because the penitent sins more easily not from the facility of obtaining pardon, but from the lesser difficulty of confessing, although this is an evil disposition most injurious to God. - For the rest, he who sins, or perseveres in sin, from hope of pardon as from a motive of sinning, or under hope of pardon with the purpose of persevering in sin, must be distinguished from him who sins from frailty or passion, yet with hope and purpose of repenting, and thus of obtaining remission of sins. The first certainly admits presumption, but not the other, who rather sins less, because as St. Thomas says: "Through this he seems to have a will less firmly fixed upon sinning." - Cf. St. Thom. 2-2, q. 21, art. 2, ad 3. - St. Alphonsus, n. 22. - Baller., note (a), p. 175.

Question 3. Can the sin of despair be venial by reason of matter?

Response. Negatively, and the reason is that to admit deliberate diffidence of obtaining eternal beatitude or the means necessary for obtaining it is to deny the attributes of God, and especially his mercy, which certainly is mortal from its whole genus. - But despair can be, and sometimes is, only a venial sin, when it arises from sadness or impatience, because then perfect consent is lacking.

Question 4. What are the remedies of despair?

Response. The chief ones are the following: 1st. consideration of the infinite goodness and mercy of God; 2nd. frequent recollection of those men who after very many and very grave sins obtained pardon; 3rd. meditation on the parables of the holy Gospel, especially of the lost sheep; 4th. special devotion toward the Blessed Virgin, refuge of sinners; 5th. confidence in Christ fastened to the cross for us, etc. Yet let the confessor attend to the following practical rules.

Rule I. Let him examine from what root especially despair arises in the penitent, so that he can apply fitting remedies according to the diverse cause. - But for the most part it is accustomed to be born proximately from apprehension of certain damnation; but remotely: 1st. from sloth, by which someone thinks the means of salvation too grave, and therefore is deterred from employing them; 2nd. from lust or other inveterate sins, which turn the mind away from heavenly things and, because of the difficulty of amendment, lead to despair; 3rd. from melancholy, which inclines to sadness and turns away from confidence, which is accustomed to generate joy of soul; 4th. from scruples, by which the soul is cast down and oppressed.

Rule II. Penitents given to despair are to be moderated with great circumspection, prudence, and patience, according to the diversity of characters and the varied genus of despair. For those who from malice, or from the weight of sins and a disgraceful life, have been driven into despair are to be directed in one way; those who from pusillanimity or from diabolical temptation are impelled to it in another.

Rule III. Penitents who exhibit themselves as such are not immediately on first appearance to be judged as carried off by despair, especially if they live as Christians. For there are found souls, even devout ones, which are agitated by almost continual temptations of despair; nor is it easily to be believed that they have sinned, especially gravely, although they think that they have furnished consent to them; just as neither is excessive fear concerning the danger of salvation to be confused with despair properly so called.