POWER OF HOPE [1]

PRACTICE OF GOOD

1.  For our Divine Lesson today, we take refuge from our daily distractions to meditate on the virtue of hope. In answer to the question what is virtue? we discover:  A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good.^[2]  We want to give the best of ourselves and so, to the utmost of our ability, we do good things. The Church calls the virtuous and courageous religious leader, a good shepherd. Good shepherds care for the souls of those in their charge--the "good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep".  [Jn 10:11]  The virtuous person, although less recognizable now than in times past, is not an accident of history, nor are his selfless acts or impulses to heroic self-sacrifice alien to normal human behavior. The essence of virtue is not merely abstention from coarseness, but the conscious awareness and practice of the knowledge of good. The good, however it may be defined or manipulated by one's culture, is not the fruit of that culture but rather its measure. Never inferior to the society into which he is born--however powerful and condescending--the virtuous person always surpasses in worth the value system of his culture. Like a newborn baby, and all things good, virtue evidences a discernable destiny by which the promise of its noble origin is fulfilled. The Gospel of John recognizes that human fulfillment is impossible without the god-ness of spiritual birth.

TOUR DE FORCE

2.  If man wishes to ascend the to summit of his potential, he must submit to an authority higher than himself. When the leading Pharisee Nicodemus visits Jesus secretly at night, Jesus tells him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  [Jn 3:3]  Thus Jesus reacquaints Nicodemus with the imperative of conversion--the spiritual patrimony of the prophets. Hope is the knowledge that transcends the observable: it is our assent to the redeeming power of Christ who laid down his life for us and our assurance that the shepherd calls each of us by name. We situate our lives in the hope that one day, our relationship with the Holy Trinity will mirror the perfection of the Son's relationship with the Father. When a Christian allows his heart to be overturned so that it may orient itself to God,^[3]  he empowers the Holy Spirit within him to accomplish a tour de force of grace. Under the sign of water and Spirit-born  [cf. Jn 3:5], he inherits the blessings and obligations as a citizen in the Kingdom of God. Hence, virtues are begotten of God who imparts the knowledge of good to every human being at the moment of conception. Through baptism, Christ consecrates his disciples in flesh and spirit, so as to unify them for his glory: "Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come!"  [2Co 5:17]  For God is himself without origin and age. We may say that God is eternally young, though never created; though outside the boundary of time, God is eternally new.

"TIMES OF REFRESHING"

3.  The goal of a virtuous life," according to St. Gregory of Nyssa, "is to become like God.^[4]  "Now the Lord is the Spirit", writes the Apostle Paul, and "...and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."  [2Cor 3:17]  How are we transformed?:  "That as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more."  [1Th 4:1]  It is to say that virtue is acquired through personal sacrifice. To approach God--to be recognized by him--means that we relinquish the world's recognition. The builders of the world do not understand God's kingdom, because they reject Christ the Lord its cornerstone. A child of God forswears dread of the future. It is to place audacious confidence in Our Lords incomparable goodness and self-sacrifice, the only name given to the world by which humankind is to be saved. Like the lakes and rivers which are annually replenished by winter snows, our souls need "times of refreshing"  [Acts 3:19]  by the Holy Spirit. The human soul which dwells in flesh is like a spring of water which dwells in the earth. "Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh water and brackish?"  [Jam 3:11] 

SOUL OF HAPPINESS

4.  What is hope? Hope is our enduring, spiritual confidence that eternal life and the Kingdom of Heaven will come true, our abiding trust in the fulfillment of Christ's promises and our steadfast reliance on the grace of the Holy Spirit. Hope does not spring from the root and stock of self-interest. Hope is not the desire to have things my way, nor is it the incautious sentiment that reconciliation is needed in every house except one's own. When man's wickedness strips happiness and joy from us and the hired hand abandons us to our fate  [cf. Jn 10:12], hope remains, and:  "keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity."^[5]  Hope is the soul of human happiness. In its purest form, hope expresses itself as the joy of our salvation, the living proof that God grants to life purpose and fulfillment even in a sinful world. The practice of goodness is itself a sign of the nearness of the divine. Virtues, the first principles of goodness, are God's supernal imprints upon man's soul.

NO MAN CAN BOAST

5.  Virtues are coordinates illuminating man's route to the divine, the ligatures which bind sinful, mortal man into relationship with God, in whom perfection is supreme and holiness is resplendent. The theological virtues (faith, hope and love) and the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance) form the points of man's spiritual compass rose which we know as the Our Father:  "Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire."^[6]  The resurrection of Jesus symbolizes the power of hope, markers to guide the course of human history. No "signs in sun and moon and stars"  [Lk 21:25], no power on earth can match the importance of this saving event. The "roaring of the sea and the waves"  [Lk 21:25]  prostrate themselves in silent awe before the stillness of the empty tomb.  [cf. Lk 21:25]  "For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."  [Jn 3:17]  Jesus fulfills the hope of all who believe in his Name, whether privileged or poor. This is why God's only-begotten son was destined to be born unclean in a stable and die unclean on a tree, so that no man can boast of his own blessing and another's curse:  "By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."  [1Jn 3:19-20] 

WHAT GOD HAS PROMISED

6.  The Lord, to whom everything in our hearts is revealed, does not approach us with a cold, calculating rationality. Rather, he cherishes his Church as an eager lover, as a groom who intimately knows his bride. For our part, advises St. Teresa of Avila, we must sustain a brisk hope in the face of great obstacles:

HOPE, O my soul, hope, You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.^[7]   

Hope is our assurance that human fear is not a prerequisite for the divine-human relationship, nor is man compelled, as if it were within his power, to make himself worthy before he can enter into the temple singing for joy.  [cf. Ps 84:2]  Man's need alone is sufficient for him to approach God with confidence: "Behold, the days are coming", says the Lord.  [Jer 33:14]  The human soul, far from being unadorned  (Lat. tabula rasa)  at birth, is graced by God with exceptional gifts, among them: uniqueness, beauty, the image and likeness of God  [cf. Gen 1:26], the charism of eternity, the fertile potency and mystery of life, the treasure of God's natural law, and the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. Through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, Christ initiates each new disciple into the new life of grace, a wholly new order of existence. The Holy Spirit, which animates the human soul beyond its natural powers, is the infallible manifestation of hope. The baptized receive the Holy Spirit as a pledge of their citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Spirit of God guarantees the believer that what God has promised, God will do. We can entrust to the Holy Spirit our hope! We can depend upon the Holy Spirit to witness for us at the hour of personal judgment! Allow the Holy Spirit to refresh your soul with the living water of virtue! Allow the Spirit of God to bear you aloft. Walk on the Spirit as Jesus walked on water!