Part I, Faith: Christian Hope

1. The Essence of Christian Hope

Christian hope is the confident expectation of all those things which Christ promised us with regard to the fulfilment of God's will.

" Hope," says St. Paulinus, " gives us a foretaste of the promised joys of paradise." " How great is the multitude of Thy sweet ness, O Lord . . . which Thou hast wrought for them that hope in Thee " (Ps. xxx. 20). Such hope may be called holy, because directed to God and supernatural things ; by this is fulfilled the precept of the Apostle: " Seek the things that are above" (Col. iii. 1).

1. As the reward of carrying out God's will, Christ has promised us eternal happiness, and the means required for attain ing it ; in particular God's grace, temporal goods for the sustaining of life, forgiveness of sins, help in our necessities, and the answer ing of our prayers.

Christ promised us eternal happiness (1 John ii. 25) ; "In the house of My Father are many mansions. If not I would have told you that I go to prepare a place for you " (John xiv. 2) ; He has further promised to raise our bodies again after death (John v. 28). The desire for perfect happiness is planted deep in our nature. Christ also promised His grace, i.e., the help of the Holy Spirit, for His will is that all men be saved (1 Tim. ii. 4). Grace is absolutely necessary for salvation: actual grace for our conversion, sanctifying grace for entrance into heaven. Temporal goods are promised : " Be

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not solicitous for your life what you shall eat, nor for your body what you shall put on. . . . For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things," and we are taught that since the Father feeds the birds of the air, and clothes the weeds of the field, much more will be His care for us (Matt. vi. 25-32). The experience of the saints in this matter is a great consolation and lesson to us; over and over again they have been in difficulties for the means of subsistence, yet help always came. Forgiveness of sin is assured to us if we wish to amend: " There shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than over ninety-nine just who need not penance" (Luke xv. 7). The parable of the prodigal son and of the lost sheep reveal to us how readily God will forgive the sinner : " So long as we are on the earth it is never too late to repent," says St. Cyprian. The penitent thief on the cross found salvation. " God wills not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live " (Ezech. xviii. 32). We are certain of help in our necessities. When the apostles were filled with fear at the storm on the lake, Christ's reproach to them was: "Why do you fear, O ye of little faith?" (Matt. viii. 26). God is called the " helper in tribulations" (Ps. xlv. 2). It is true He seems at times to delay answering our prayers, as in the marriage-feast at Cana, when He said : " My hour is not yet come " (John ii. 4) ; yet the longer we have to wait, the more wonderful is His answer, and we might reflect on the calming of the storm on the lake, on the release of St. Peter from prison, on the fate of Aman, the persecutor of the Jews (Esther vii.). " When our necessity is greatest," says St. Ambrose, " God's help is nearest." Christ promised that our petitions shall always be heard : " If you shall ask Me anything in My name, that will I do " (John xiv. 14). " Amen, Amen, I say to you; if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you" (John xvi. 23).

Christ taught us in the Our Father to ask our heavenly Father for all these things.

The second petition is a prayer for salvation, the third for grace, the fourth for temporal necessities, the fifth for forgiveness of sins, the sixth and seventh for help in our needs.

2. Christian hope is based on faith, for we hope for the fulfil ment of God's promises because we believe that God is infinitely true, infinitely powerful, and infinitely good, and that Christ has merited all for us.

" We are firmly convinced," says St. Clement of Rome, " that He Who forbade deceit cannot Himself deceive." Hence the words of St. Paul : " Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He is faithful that hath promised" (Heb. x. 23). Moreover, we are convinced that God, to Whom nothing is impossible (Luke i. 37), is able to carry out His promises (Rom. iv. 18) ; that God, Who is love itself (1 John iv. 8), is more ready to give than we are to receive (St. Jerome) ; that Christ, by His death on the cross, has merited for us salvation and all things necessary for its attainment. Thus St. Augustine, " I could never hope for pardon or heaven when I think of my great sins, but I venture to hope that through the

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merits of Christ I may be saved by means of penance and keeping of the commandments."

3. He only who carries out God's will can hope for the good things promised by Christ.

" Not every one that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in heaven " (Matt. vii. 21).

Hence the sinner can hope in God only when he really repents and is willing to reform his life.

" Hope without virtue is presumption," says St. Bernard. If the wicked do penance for their sins and do judgment and justice, God will no more remember their sins (Ezech. xviii. 21). Manasses, King of Israel, led his people into idolatry and put the prophets to death. For this he was given over to his enemies and led in chains to Babylon. There he repented and promised amendment. God then set him free, and gave him back his kingdom, and Manasses destroyed the temples of the idols and did much good (2 Paralip. xxxiii.).

The just man may hope that God will provide for all his needs; yet he must exert himself to gain those things which he hopes for from God.

Christ's words are: " Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all other things shall be added unto you" (Matt. vi. 33). We are God's servants. As St. John of the Cross says : " It is our affair to serve the Lord; it is His to provide for us." l\To one who has been faithful to God's commands has ever been abandoned by Him (Ecclus. ii. 12). "We are unjust to God if we do not place great confidence in Him," says St. Augustine. " Cast all your care upon the Lord, for He hath care of you " (1 Pet. v. 7). We must riot, however, desist from exerting ourselves ; we must use those gifts which God has given to us ; for God will give us only what we cannot obtain by our own exertions. In the words of St. Charles Borromeo : " We must hope for the best and do our best." " To expect help and to do nothing," says St. Francis of Sales, " is to tempt God." We ought to employ the natural means at our disposal; St. Paul, for example, though he had the gift of healing sickness, recommended Timothy to take a little wine for the sake of his health (1 Tim. v. 23). And all this is true of any kind of necessity: "Help yourself and God will help you."

4. A wholesome fear of falling into sin must always accompany Christian hope.

God's will is that we should work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. ii. 12). ISTo one has complete assurance that he belongs to the number of the elect, or that he will persevere in virtue till death (Council of Trent, 6, Can. 15, 16). Many an old and rotten ship has reached harbor, while many a great and noble vessel has sunk in the sea. Men, illumined of God, like Solomon, have fallen into godless ways before their death, and many a great sinner, like St. Augustine or St. Mary Magdalen, has become a very great saint.

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" He that thinketh himself to stand take heed lest he fall " (1 Cor. x. 12). "We carry our treasure in frail and earthen vessels" (2 Cor. iv. 7). "Mistrust of ourselves," says St. Augustine, " should help us to hope." Hope and fear are companions ; where they reign, the heavenly crown is easily secured (St. John Chrysostom). Hope makes us strong and fear makes us prudent. Hope is like the breeze to a ship, driving it in to the harbor; fear is like the ballast, steadying it and preventing shipwreck. Fear, so far from diminishing hope, increases it. " Trust in God and distrust of ourselves," says St. Francis of Sales, "are like the two arms of a balance; as one rises the other goes down; the more we distrust ourselves, the more we confide in God, and vice versa"

5. Christian hope is necessary for salvation.

A man who has no hope will not do good works, nor avoid sin; while he who has hope is secure of his salvation, just as a man is certain of a plant when he has the seed ; " for we are saved by hope " (Rom. viii. 24). "Belief in God's truth, His almighty power, and His love for us, is a triple cord," says St. Bernard, " which is letdown into our prison from heaven; to this we must cling so that it may raise us to the vision of His glory." " The house of God (i.e., holiness which leads to salvation)," says St. Augustine, " is founded on faith, built up on hope, and finished in love." In heaven there is no more hope, for we shall then possess all that we hoped for.

6. Christian hope is a gift of God, and we can attain to this hope only by sanctifying grace.

In this respect we may speak of hope almost in the same words in which we spoke of faith. It is the Spirit of God which awakens in us a longing for heavenly things, and fills us with confidence in God. As sanctifying grace increases, this power of hoping increases ; hence the saints hoped most at the approach of death. Hope, like a river, becomes wider as it approaches the sea.

2. The Advantage of Christian Hope

1. He who hopes in God enjoys the special protection of God.

Examples may be seen in the three children in the furnace, in Joseph in the Egyptian prison, in our blessed Lady when St. Joseph had thoughts of putting her away. Modern history has also its examples, as when Vienna was besieged by the Turks in 1683. Two hundred and fifty thousand Turks were investing the city, which was defended by a garrison of sixteen thousand Christians. Again and again were the enemy repulsed, though the ramparts had been undermined and blown up. Yet as the case of the Christians became more desperate, so increased their trust in God; and at the last extremity there appeared Sobieski's force, an army of some ninety thousand men. The battle lasted but a day, and the Turks were put to complete rout. God protects those who hope in Him (Dan. xiii. 60). "A Christian whose hope is in God may be oppressed, but he cannot be overcome," says St. Cyprian. " Such a one," adds St Francis of Sales, " is like a general backed by a strong reserve.''* ' They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion" (Ps. cxxiv. 1). If a man

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puts his entire confidence in God, God takes him under His special protection, and he may be certain that no harm will come to him (St. Vincent of Paul). The greater our confidence in God, the more certainly will He protect us and come to our help in all dangers (St. Francis of Sales). ISTo one hath hoped in the Lord and been confounded (Ecclus. ii. 11). " We will not have you as the heathens that have no hope" (1 Thess. iv. 12).

2. He who hopes in God can obtain everything from Him ; for Christ said that such a one might move mountains (Mark xi. 23).

St. Gregory Thaumaturgus did literally move a mountain. Such was the confidence of Moses when he divided the Red Sea with his staff, and of Elias when he prayed for rain. " Hope is an arrow which pierces the Heart of Christ, and opens the founts of His mercy to the soul that hopes in Him." " A man gets just as much as he hopes for" (St. John of the Cross).

3. He who hopes in God is strengthened by God, so that he is not afraid of man, and is patient and courageous in suffering, and more especially in face of death.

We have examples in David before Goliath and Leo before Attila. St. Martin was once attacked by robbers who threatened his life; when they asked why he did not fear, he made reply : " I am a Christian and under God's protection. I have no need to fear; on the contrary, it is you who ought to be afraid." The man whose trust is in God troubles himself little about the favors of the great or the sayings of his fellow-men; such was St. Paul's attitude (1 Cor. iv. 3). He who puts his trust in God will be patient in suffering, for he knows " that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us " (Rom. viii. 18). Job was patient in the midst of his sufferings because he looked forward to the resurrection (Job xix. 25). How can he be unhappy who looks to the unspeakable reward of heaven ? St. Paul calls to us amid his sufferings : " I exceedingly abound with joy in all our tribulations " (2 Cor. vii. 4). "To die is gain . . . having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ " (Phil. i. 21-23) ; and again, " As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just Judge, will render to me in that day " (2 Tim. iv. 8). So joyful was the death of St. Andrew (62 A.D.), that when he saw the cross on which he was to die, he exclaimed : " Hail, blessed cross, sanctified by the death of my God; with transports of joy I come to you; how long have I sought you, how long have I desired you ! " St. Ignatius (107 A.D.), Bishop of Antioch, rejoiced when he heard his condemnation from the mouth of the Emperor Trajan; and when the Christians in Rome were planning to set him free, he prayed them not to deprive him of his martyr's crown : " I fear neither the beasts nor the rending of my limbs, if only I can win Christ; " and so we find innumerable instances in the lives of the saints. Hope is the anchor of the soul (Heb. vi. 19). Like the eagle soaring into the light of the sun, it rises above the cares and sorrows of earth.

4. He who hopes in God is impelled to the performance of good works and of heroic acts.

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This is the secret of the zeal of missionaries in the land of the heathen. The hope of the Christian is something more solid than that of the husbandman, or the warrior, or the artist. " He hopes for that which Truth itself has promised," says St. Paulinus. Our hope is as certain as though it were already an accomplished fact (St. Augustine).

3. The Object of Christian Hope

The Christian may not hope for more or less than what God has promised.

1. The Christian may not rely on* his own powers, on his fellow-men, nor on earthly things more than upon God ; otherwise he is sure to fail, because outside of God nothing is to be relied upon.

The hope of him who relies only on earthly means is not a heavenly nor a Christian hope, but merely human hope. St. Peter boasted of his strength, and yet he denied his Lord. Goliath trusted in his might, and he came to nought. St. Francis Borgia gave all his service to his patron, the Empress Isabella ; she died and then he recognized the folly of it. It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust to men (Ps. cxvii. 8). To build on the favor of men is to raise one's house on sand or snow. Those who put their trust in men will perish like the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel (3 Kings xviii.). He who relies on his own strength and not upon God has only himself for protector ; God will not protect him because he does not hope in His protection (St. Augustine).

2. The Christian may not despair; i.e., he may not give up hoping that God will forgive his sins, or help him in adversity.

Cain despaired when he said : " My sin if too great to be for given " (Gen. iv. 13). Saul despaired by throwing himself on his sword when hard pressed in battle by the Philistines (1 Kings xxxi.).

The Christian may not despair, because God's mercy is in finite, and God's help is nearest when the need is greatest.

" Before sinning fear God's justice," says St. Gregory the Great ; " after sinning trust in His mercy." Who would doubt of being able to pay off his paltry debts if he were placed before a kingly treasure and told to help himself ? Much less should we doubt of God's mercy. " As a spark is to the ocean, so is the wickedness of man compared to the mercy of God," says St. John Chrysostom. The greater a sinner is, the dearer is he to God in his repentance, for more glory is given to God when the sins that He forgives are very great.

Despair often ends in suicide and everlasting death.

Judas is an example of this. Despair is a sin against the Holy Ghost, and as such is never forgiven. " Hope," says St. Isidore, " opens heaven's gates, while despair closes them." St. Augustine says that he who despairs of God's mercy, dishonors God as though be did not believe in His existence; and St. Jerome adds that the

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sin of Judas in despairing of God's mercy was greater than his sin of betraying Christ. He who sins kills his soul, but he who despairs is already in hell.

3. The Christian must never presume on his trust in God's mercy, i.e., he may not continue sinning with the idea that God's mercy can never condemn him to hell.

Confidence in God and fear of God must ever be equally present in us. It is wrong that there should be only fear of God without trust in Him, for this is despair. It is also wrong that there should be no fear at all; if a man thinks his salvation already secure he sins by presumption. " Despise not God's mercy," says St. Bernard, " if you would escape His justice." Christ says : " Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish" (Luke xiii. 3). No man may safely say to himself, " I can always do penance for this sin," or, " I will reform before my death."

4. The Christian may never tempt God; i.e., he must never expose himself rashly to danger in the hope that God will save him.

He only can hope for help who does what God requires of him. He who is indifferent to God's will, and acts with thoughtless rashness, is deserted by God. Hence : " He that loveth danger shall perish in it" (Ecclus. iii. 27). The devil urged Our Lord to tempt God by throwing Himself from the pinnacle of the Temple (Matt. iv. 6). So a man who should refuse to call in a doctor or to take medicines in a dangerous sickness, on the plea that God would come to his help, would be tempting God. Those who in the first ages of Christianity exposed themselves without reasonable cause to martyrdom were not accounted martyrs even when they died for the faith.