SAVED BY HOPE

January 25, 2008

How much is the world ever in need of hope, and how timely and welcomed is Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical letter on the virtue of hope. Bearing the title Spe Salvi (Saved by Hope), the letter is addressed to all the Christian faithful and to people of goodwill everywhere.

Saved by Hope is a treasury of rich insights. Its core message can be simply stated: without God, our situation is ultimately hopeless, because nothing in this world can fully satisfy the longings of our restless hearts. Hope, however, has the power to give us enduring strength even in the midst of suffering and loss, and to transform our lives as well as the world around us.

In traditional church teaching there are four cardinal or fundamental virtues that are, by nature, within our reach: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Beyond these natural virtues are three theological virtues, so called because they pertain to God and, for us, they are not possible without God’s grace: faith, hope, and charity.

Not enough thought has been given to the importance of the virtue of hope; Pope Benedict’s encyclical addresses and corrects this shortcoming. He shows how crucial hope is to give meaning and purpose to our lives.

He begins by showing the close relationship between hope and faith in Scripture and Tradition. Then he shows that the hope for complete happiness will never be fulfilled in this world. No matter what we have or become, and no matter how good the world seems to be or how much better we make it for ourselves and others, we are always hoping for something new and different and better. We come to realize in the journey of life, Benedict shows, that our hope calls us to something beyond this world -- to the one who alone can fully satisfy the longings of our heart, namely, God.

Pope Benedict in no way tries to draw our attention completely away from this world to our eternal life with God. He affirms the rightness of working for a better world, a task which involves pursuing technological advances, political and economic developments, and institutional and social reforms of every kind. He also approves the hopes that individuals may have for their own happiness. He simply points out that the world is not enough for us and that we should place our hope for final happiness in the God who created it. More important, who created us for himself , to be with him and each other in an eternal communion of infinite love. He critiques the modern world for placing its hopes in technology and politics as means for the perfection of the world and the fulfillment of our being.

In the final part of the encyclical, the pope identifies three “settings” for the cultivation of the virtue of hope that are truly Christian in character. The first is prayer, in which we turn to God who is always attentive to us. He writes: “When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me. When I have been plunged into complete solitude ...; if I pray I am never totally alone.” He also reminds us that prayer evokes growth in us: “We must learn that we cannot pray against others. We must learn that we cannot ask for the superficial and comfortable things that we desire at this moment—that meager, misplaced hope that leads us away from God”. We learn in prayer, instead, to place our hopes in God.”

The second setting is that of human suffering and loss, which in some way and to some degree is the universal human condition. Life’s trials, great and small, put to test our confidence in the ultimate meaning and value of our existence. Hope is that virtue which gives us the strength to be able to endure evil and initiate positive action to overcome it with good. Hope, then, affirms Benedict, has the power to transform our lives and our world.

Third, we look forward to God’s judgment, when he will do what we cannot do. It will be a time not of terror but of hope, when God will vanquish all evil, establish justice forever, and display his infinite mercy and goodness.

Finally, Benedict identifies the Blessed Virgin Mary as a star of hope for us, and prays that she will “shine on us and guide us on our way”. I make my own prayer the same, and say to all as we enter the new year the same words the Angel Gabriel said to her when he announced God had chosen her to be the mother of the Savior: “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:30).

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap