Chapter I. Nature of Hope

AN act of hope is an act of the will by which we desire the possession of God and of heaven, and firmly trust that we shall obtain them together with the necessary means through the goodness of God and God’s fidelity to his promises. The material object, then, of hope is God, heaven, and the supernatural helps necessary to attain thereto. ‘The formal object is God’s infinite goodness towards us, his omnipotence, and his faithfulness to his promises. God is infinitely good and wishes us to be happy with him for ever; he has promised that we shall be happy with him if only we persevere to the end. He will enable us to do this by his all-powerful grace.

Hope is necessary for salvation for all who have come to the use of reason. The sinner must hope in order to ask for pardon and to be able to rise from his sin. The just man must hope, otherwise he will not pray, and without prayer it is impossible to persevere in the grace of God. Hope is also matter of precept, which obliges sometimes per se, at other times per accidens, in much the same way as the precept of faith. Explicit acts of hope, however, are not necessary in order to fulfil this precept; what was said above about the acts of faith is applicable to acts of hope. Implicit acts contained in prayer, the reception of the sacraments, and other works of piety are sufficient to fulfil the obligation. Nobody, then, who is complying with the ordinary obligations of a Christian life need be anxious whether he is fulfilling the precept of eliciting acts of the theological virtues; but it is well, as a matter of counsel, to renew them frequently and explicitly.

The chief sins against hope are despair, presumption, and aversion for God and heavenly things.

Despair is a voluntary diffidence about obtaining heaven and the means necessary thereto. If it arises from mistrust of the goodness, power, and fidelity of God, it is gravely injurious to him, and is always mortally sinful. In an improper sense, despair sometimes springs from an overpowering idea of one’s own weakness and fickleness, and then it is frequently only venially sinful; it is not directly against hope, but rather a failure to make use of the motives to encouragement which hope furnishes.

Presumption here signifies a sin against hope by excess, and is an inordinate confidence in the attainment of heaven without using the necessary means. It is of itself a grave sin, but admits of parvity of matter, as when through such inordinate confidence one commits venial sin.

Aversion for God and heaven is distinguished from hatred of God, which is directly against charity, in that it does not wish evil to God, but prefers earth and earthly joys to God and heaven, It is, as is obvious, a mortal sin.