Article: How to strengthen our hope in God

FATHER JOHN HARDON, S.J.

During my five years of teaching at a state university, I had some remarkable experiences and learned many things that would otherwise never have entered my life.

Among the most remarkable of these experiences was the number of young people who I discovered are not only sad and discouraged, but actually in despair. In one short three-week period there were three attempted suicides that I ministered to.

Among these young people some were in despair. Some I successfully convinced that life was worth living and they are still alive. With others I was less successful.

"What do I have to look forward to after college?" one of my students asked me at the state university. He was a very successful senior who planned to take his life shortly before graduation. Although not publicized, the second principal cause of death among college students in America is taking their own lives. What a mockery of so-called prosperous America, the wealthiest nation on earth and the most affluent society in history, that so many of its citizens are taking their own lives; that euthanasia laws are being passed by one state after another to legalize self-murder and the murder of unwanted adults; that over a million unborn children are murdered each year by their, shall we call them, "mothers"; that some sixty-five million Americans are keeping some semblance of emotional sanity by using strong medical sedatives and millions of others have become confirmed alcoholics; and that drug addiction especially among the young has reached epidemic proportions. No doubt other causes and explanations are also the reason for this contradiction between material prosperity and spiritual destitution, but I think the fundamental reason is the weakening of hope among our people. They are discouraged, despondent, disenchanted, and not a few finally despair because they lack hope.

Our concern in this chapter, however, is not mainly to talk about others; it is rather to talk about ourselves. It is impossible to live in the United States these days and not be affected by the culture that surrounds us, notably for our purpose, by the mood of sadness that pervades the atmosphere because so many people are wanting in hope. In fact, the empty laughter on television; the crude, obscene jokes; the make-believe romances in millions of books and magazines, on the radio and screen; the expensive pleasures of the body and the extravagant forms of comfort and entertainment that have given our country the dubious title of "Playboy America" -- these are not signs of prosperity at all, they are symptoms of a disease and the disease is a creeping despair.

If we Christians and Catholics are to protect ourselves from being infected and indeed are to help others overcome this disease, we must look to our own virtue of hope and make sure that we at least know that life is worth living and that even suffering and death have a meaning, as they do. Our hope has a foundation which is faith, and a source which is grace to be nourished by prayer, developed by patience and strengthened by the love of Jesus Christ who is the final object of our hope in that eternity where possession will replace all our earthly desires.

Foundation

This is the first and fundamental way of doing so: deepen your faith and your hope will strengthen accordingly. No building is stronger than its foundation and the divinely established foundation of our hope is our faith.

The foundation of Christian hope is the Christian faith. St. Paul makes it very plain: "Only faith," he says, "can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain un seen." So it is. We have grounds for hoping in the future good things we look forward to, but only because we believe that God will be true to His promises. We hope to reach heaven and obtain the graces we need to arrive there, but only because we have faith in God's goodness and believe that having been so good to us so far He will not be less, but even more, generous in the time and eternity still to come. Our hope therefore is based on faith. A strong faith is the basis of a strong hope; a weak faith produces a weak hope, and in the absence of faith there can be no hope. Faithless people, let us keep telling ourselves, are hopeless people. Is it any wonder that so many are without hope, since so many have lost or never acquired a true Christian faith?

We are addressing ourselves to the question of how to strengthen our hope in God. This is the first and fundamental way of doing so: deepen your faith and your hope will strengthen accordingly. No building is stronger than its foundation and the divinely established foundation of our hope is our faith. Sine fide nulla spes. Without faith there is no hope -- is not only a statement of scholastic theology, it is a maxim of Christianity.

Source

This is another way of saying that we must be constantly praying to God, asking Him to preserve us in hope and not allow us to be discouraged or depressed or dispirited or sad. All of which are signs of a weakening or a lessening of hope. Hopeful people are never sad.

But if faith is the foundation of hope, divine grace is its indispensable source. When Christ told us that "without me you can do nothing," He was saying that without His divine grace we could neither believe nor hope. This deserves to be singled out and spelled out more carefully than I fear most of us tend to do. Why? Because if our hope must be constantly sustained by the grace of God, then we had better make sure that we have a constant supply of this grace. This is another way of saying that we must be constantly praying to God, asking Him to preserve us in hope and not allow us to be discouraged or depressed or dispirited or sad. All of which are signs of a weakening or a lessening of hope. Hopeful people are never sad.

There are many fine prayers asking God for hope that we could recite. I personally and with understandable prejudice like the one of St. Margaret Mary's confessor and spiritual director, Blessed Claude Colombiere. Let me read just a few of his lines: "I know, I know but too well, that I am frail and changeable. I know the power of temptation against the strongest virtue. I have seen stars fall from heaven and pillars of the firmament tot ter. But these things alarm me not. While I hope in You, I am sheltered from all misfortune and I am sure that my trust shall endure for I rely upon You to sustain this unfailing hope. I know that my confidence cannot exceed Your bounty and that I shall never receive less than I have hoped for from You. Therefore, I hope that You will sustain me against my evil inclinations, that You will protect me against the most furious assaults of the Evil One, and that You will cause my weakness to triumph over my most powerful enemies. I hope that You will never cease to love me and that I shall always love You unceasingly. In You, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded. Amen."

Development

Without grace hope is impossible, and without prayer grace is not avail able. Those who pray receive grace and those who have the grace will be saved. Those who do not pray will not receive the grace and they will not be saved. That is an article of our Faith: no one is saved without prayer. If, however, prayer is the in dispensable way to obtain the grace without which we could not even begin, let alone continue, to hope, patience is the normal means that God asks of us to develop our virtue of hope. May I admit it took me years to find this out. Yet there is nothing strange about this. After all, what is patience except the humble endurance of trials with resignation to the divine will?

Let us make sure that our hope is not cheap. Precious hope is different. It is a confidence in God that has been proved, perhaps through years of trial or misunderstanding, through temptation and humiliation, yet far from letting his trust in God's goodness grow weak, such a person grows in confidence and matures in hope.

There are few virtues more highly or frequently recommended by the Scriptures, especially by the New Testament, than patience. Christ tells us, "…in patience you shall possess your souls." St. Paul sums it all up in one magnificent passage: "We can boast about our sufferings" -- leave it to Paul to say impossible things. "These sufferings bring patience as we know and patience brings perseverance and perseverance brings hope, and this hope is not deceptive because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. Yes, but notice this hope is not deceptive. There is hope and hope. It is the tried hope, the hope that has gone through suffering and produced patience that is not deceptive.

The divine logic from suffering to patience, from patience to perseverance, and from perseverance to hope is therefore a matter of revelation. The Holy Spirit Himself tells us that if we would even retain our hope, and much more so, if we would develop our hope, we must be ready to endure. Let us relax; that is the way it is. Why? Because in the ordinary course of Providence this is the way the Lord perfects His servants. He knows there is hope and just a whisper, hope. And what I like to distinguish as cheap hope and precious hope. Cheap hope is the untried virtue that someone may indeed possess, but his trust in God has not been tested in the crucible of suffering.

Let us make sure that our hope is not cheap. Precious hope is different. It is a confidence in God that has been proved, perhaps through years of trial or misunderstanding, through temptation and humiliation, yet far from letting his trust in God's goodness grow weak, such a person grows in confidence and matures in hope. When I suffer for Jesus I become more and more like Jesus, and nothing makes us more Christ-like, or I prefer the word Jesus-like, than to have a share in His cross. Nothing more surely assimilates two people who may indeed be friends than their partnership in suffering. This kind of partnership in being a companion with Jesus in His passion will infallibly deepen the virtue of hope.

When my hope has been purified by suffering it is a hope that I can safely call supernatural. Why supernatural? Because then I know from experience that what I am looking forward to from God is nothing that this world calls good. It is possible, too possible, to hope and hope legitimately, yet have one's hope centered on this life. Look back over the object of most of our prayers -- health, reputation, success, possession, a job, food, money, clothing, friends -- all good, all valid objects to pray and, therefore, hope for, yet all are good things of this life. My hope becomes that much more, with stress, supernatural, which means super-earthly, super- terrestrial; it becomes more pure and perfect as it is focused on the life to come, on grace as a means to heaven and on divine mercy as a means for this sinner to reach God; that even I, dear God, even I have a chance. But this kind of pure hope is not cheaply acquired, it costs a high price. The price is the patient acceptance of suffering that in time, if we give God a chance, makes everything on earth seem unimportant when compared to the glory to be revealed in us. Suffering is marvelous. It removes the scales from our eyes. It shows us that compared with heaven this world is a passing dream and that only the all-beautiful God whom we hope to possess really counts.

Love

There is nothing mysterious about this relationship between hope and love. After all, if I trust that someone will give me what he promised, my confidence will depend on how well I appreciate that person's goodness, in a word, how much I love him or her. People that we love, we always trust. Better, we trust nobody else.

We have one more aspect of hope to consider and that is the role of love in the maturing of hope. Even as faith is the foundation of hope, so love is its motivation and the principal means for strengthening our trust in God. There is nothing mysterious about this relationship between hope and love. After all, if I trust that someone will give me what he promised, my confidence will depend on how well I appreciate that person's goodness, in a word, how much I love him or her. People that we love, we always trust. Better, we trust nobody else. Either we recognize a person's generosity and kindness or we would be fools to trust him. Moreover, it is not only or mainly our love for someone that motivates our trust. It is also and especially that person's love for us. Transfer these reflections to God and we see how close a relationship there is between hope in God and love of God, ours for Him and His for us. Can we possibly doubt God's promises for the future, seeing how good He has been to us in the past and up to the present moment? What have we, beginning with ourselves, that we have not received from His bounty?

We began, if that is the verb, as nothing. Time was when we were not. Our existence is the fruit of divine love and from then on God has been giving us everything just to show how much He cares. Cares? He gave us Himself on the cross. He gives Himself in the Eucharist and He continues giving Himself in all the wonderful persons and graces and blessings and experiences of our lives. Thanks, Lord, I appreciate it.

Reflection on God's goodness so far is a sure way of growing in confidence in His goodness into the future. It is a future that is bright with promise. Why should it not be? We have the words, and I would add the warning, of our Savior, not asking but commanding us. Listen: "Do not let your hearts he troubled. Trust in God, trust in me.

Yes, we trust You, Jesus, because You are our God. We know that You love us and we love You. Between those who love there should be no worry or distrust, but only a calm abiding hope that casts out all fear.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Father John A. Hardon. "How to strengthen our hope in God." from Spiritual Life in the Modern World (Boston: MA Daughters of St. Paul, 1982): 41-48.

Reprinted with permission from Inter Mirifica.

THE AUTHOR

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. (1914-2000) was a tireless apostle of the Catholic faith. The author of over twenty-five books including Spiritual Life in the Modern World, Catholic Prayer Book, The Catholic Catechism, Modern Catholic Dictionary, Pocket Catholic Dictionary, Pocket Catholi Catechism, Q & A Catholic Catechism, Treasury of Catholic Wisdom, Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan and many other Catholic books and hundreds of articles, Father Hardon was a close associate and advisor of Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, and Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity. Order Father Hardon's home study courses here.

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