XXI — THE MOTIVE OF HOPE

Presence of God. — Grant me to understand well, O Lord, that my hope must have its foundation not in me, but in your infinite mercy.

Meditation

1 — If we had to found our hope on our merits, on the degree of grace we have reached, hope would be very uncertain, because we can neither have certainty that we are in the state of grace, nor be sure of our good works, always full of defects. But our hope is certain because its first foundation must be sought not in ourselves but in God, in his infinite goodness, in his saving will by which “He wills all men to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:4), and in his sanctifying will by which He wants us not only saved, but also holy: “this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3). Therefore the certainty of our hope rests on Him alone. Although He requires our cooperation, God does not want us to found our confidence on that cooperation; in fact, Jesus, after urging us to do all that is in our power, added: “when you have done all that was commanded you, say: we are unprofitable servants” (Lk. 17:10). A lesson that must be well learned by those souls too accustomed to rely on their own strength and who imagine they can enter a deeper spiritual life with their personal resources. Therefore, when the Lord wants to make them progress, He makes them pass through painful states of impotence, lets them feel the poverty and disproportion of nature, so that they may be convinced how vain the confidence they place in themselves is. And precisely here is the delicate point: knowing how to accept this experience of impotence without falling into discouragement. If in the past you felt your strength, and now, before certain difficulties and certain trials of the interior life, you see your strength reduced to nothing, thank the Lord. In this way He frees you from the excessive confidence you had in yourself and obliges you to exercise a purer, more supernatural hope, stripped of every human element and support. But if you cannot and must not hope in yourself, this is not a reason to despair, but rather to hope only in God, to cast yourself into Him with full trust, somewhat like a child who, the more incapable and powerless he is, the more trustfully takes refuge in his mother’s arms.

2 — The certainty of our hope derives from the certainty of our faith: “I know whom I have believed,” says St. Paul, “and I am certain that He has the power to keep what I have entrusted to Him until that day,” that is, until eternal life (2 Tim. 1:12). It is not a matter of intellectual certainty, but rather a certainty of the will, of the heart, by which we fully trust a person by whom we know with certainty that we are loved. And who loves us more than God? Who has given us greater proof of love than God? Let us look at Jesus on the Cross and repeat with St. Paul: “The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Now, who “has greater love than this, that one lay down his life for his friends?” (Jn. 15:13).

Here is where the certainty of your hope is founded. You must hope to reach the beatifying possession of God in eternal life and union with Him on this earth, not so much because you have always done your duty, because you feel strong in good, virtuous, and well disposed, but because, despite your misery and weakness, you know that God is always ready to help you, provided you humbly acknowledge your nothingness and place all your trust in Him. St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus said: “Holiness does not consist in this or that practice; it consists rather in a disposition of the heart that makes us humble and little in the arms of God, conscious of our weakness and confident, even to audacity, in his goodness as Father” (NV).

If in your falls and weaknesses you shut yourself up in yourself, you clip the wings of hope and only sink ever more in your misery; but if instead you raise yourself to God with an act of full trust, then your weakness is comforted and sustained by his helping omnipotence. If, faced with difficulties and sacrifices imposed by duty, you stay calculating your own strength, you draw back and are tempted to desert; but if, turning your gaze away from yourself, you turn it toward God and his infinite love, the certainty of his help will give you strength to go forward. Firm hope in Him will make you strong, courageous, and generous: it will be the lever of your life.

Colloquy

“Most strong, almighty Lord, show me my poverty that I may know it. I said I was rich and lacked nothing, and I did not know that I was poor, blind, naked, wretched and miserable. I thought I was something, and I was nothing. I said: ‘I will become wise,’ and I became foolish. I thought I was prudent, and I was deceived. And now I see that wisdom is your gift, that without You we can do nothing, because if You, O Lord, do not guard the city, in vain does he watch who guards it. This You taught me so that I might know myself. You left me and tested me... so that I might know myself. As soon as You withdrew a little from me, I immediately fell. Then I saw and knew that You were sustaining me; if I fell, it was from myself, and if I rose, it was by your help.

“O my God, I could despair because of my great sins and my innumerable negligences... but I do not dare to despair, since, once your enemy, I was reconciled to You by the death of your Son, and not only reconciled but saved by Him. Therefore all my hope and the certainty of my trust are wholly in his precious Blood which was shed for us and for our salvation. In Him I breathe; in Him, trusting, I hope to come to You, not by my righteousness, but by that which comes from your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

“In the labor, then, of this warfare, I lift my eyes to You, Lord Jesus. Let the enemy do what he will: I will not fear, because You are a strong defender. I have good reason to hope in You, for I shall not be confounded forever.

“Now, as long as I am in the body, I am far from You, since I go forward by faith and not by vision. The time will come when I shall see what now I believe without seeing, and I shall be happy. Then will come the reality of what now I have in hope. In my hope I live content, because in your promise You are truthful; but nevertheless, not yet possessing You, I groan under the spur of desire. Make me persevering in this desire until what You have promised comes; then groaning will cease and only praise will resound” (St. Augustine).