"A World Without God is a World Without Hope."

- Spe Salvi (alternative title: how to find our hope again.)

Hope…overused and misunderstood.

One reason being Catholic is cool = if you’re not sure exactly how to define something? Here comes the catechism to the rescue! Here is what it says about hope:

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. CCC 1817

This is explained further in Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical, Spe Salvi:

We need the greater and lesser hopes that keep us going day by day. But these are not enough without the great hope, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain.

So to sum up hope for my much lower intelligence level than those two sources: it’s totally ok to hope that you get a minute to yourself to sneak the ice cream you’ve been hiding in the back of the freezer. But little hopes like that are pointless if we don’t understand the big picture: that there is one GREAT HOPE, ie: God.

You know what’s crazy right now? The world.

You know what else is crazy? The assumption that the world was ever NOT crazy. Ok, well once upon a time it was pretty perfect, but Adam and Eve messed that up pretty quick. Next thing you know, brothers are killing each other, and the whirlwind has really never stopped.

To be completely honest, I find the Fr. Ripperger fan club a little much (don’t hate me.) But he has a great talk on hope. and one of the recommendations he gives for not losing it is to learn Church History. Countless times the world has seemed too dark to make a comeback, and it seems too late for the Church.

But look around. Is the Church still standing? Heck yes it is.

So step one to staying grounded in our current craziness: look at history. Understand that human nature, corruption and evil are nothing new. We actually aren’t that special.

Step 2: Understand our role.

How can we help the world regain hope? The answer is simple and incredibly difficult at the same time. We Christians must LIVE in such a way that focuses our every decision towards the Almighty. If not us, then who??

“We see as a distinguishing mark of Christians the fact that they have a future: It is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well” (Spe Salvi).

Friend, politicians can’t do this for us. No one, in fact, is going to do it for us. WE, the people, the Christian people, must be the ones.

A few final thoughts about hope.

Hope is the midpoint between presumption and despair. Be on guard not to fall into either extreme.

American politics is extremely polarizing. It can be overwhelming, exhausting, and easily drive us to one of the two states mentioned above. When E V E R Y little thing feels like a battle, it’s tough to stay in the fight. But don’t forget the big picture. It’s all actually just one battle. That of good and evil.

If we’re going to have the stamina to stay in the fight that we’re called to on this earth, we need to cultivate the virtue of true hope.

With that in mind, want to pray the Act of Hope together?

Let’s do it.

O my God, relying on Your almighty power and infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Your grace and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

Don’t you feel more hopeful already??