Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic letter Tertio millenio adveniente invited us to “a renewed appreciation of the theological virtue of hope … The basic attitude of hope, on the one hand encourages the Christian not to lose sight of the final goal which gives meaning and value to life, and on the other, offers solid and profound reasons for a daily commitment to transform reality in order to make it correspond to Gods plan” (n. 46).
In his writings, Newman speaks more often of faith and love than he does of hope. But what is meant by hope becomes apparent here and there, above all in his sermons.
“On the look out”
“Such is the definition, I may say, of every religious man, who has not the knowledge of Christ; he is on the look out” (OS 66)[1]. The internal voice of conscience is often faint and unclear. It reveals sin, but cannot free us from it. And so it drives man to be ever on the look out for a sure foothold and a true reconciliation. It awakens a longing in man which will only be stilled – according to Newman – by the coming of the Son of God, Christ who is Truth and Peace.
“Year passes after year silently; Christ’s coming is ever nearer than it was. O that, as He comes nearer earth, we may approach nearer heaven!” (PPS IV 331). He who has accepted the Saviour into his heart and into his life has indeed, in a certain way, already fulfilled this deepest desire, but it is not yet perfect. The Christian is also someone on the look out for what in faith he may already know in umbris et imaginibus. In this life he does not yet possess salvation in its fullness, rather he lives in the hope of Christ’s coming in glory and of the eternal salvation in his presence.
This yearning after the Lord and looking out for him and the fullness of redemption is hope lending to the life of the Christian its own dynamism and energy. This virtue corresponds to the primal human desire for happiness and orientates it to lasting values.
Towards the goal
“This is our real and true bliss, not to know, or to affect, or to pursue; but to love, to hope, to joy, to admire, to revere, to adore. Our real and true bliss lies in the possession of those objects on which our hearts may rest and be satisfied”(PPS V 316).
Many people search for the fulfillment of their hope in this world. They rush from one temporal good to another, finding, however, no lasting happiness and no real peace. All worldly hopes are passing as the world itself is passing. At last when these people depart from this world their fleeting hopes collapse. With prophetic vision Newman already saw the secularization of Christian hope that would mark the twentieth century in many aspects, and which would detract from the supernatural direction of the lives and actions of many. He urged unceasingly to prefer the invisible to the visible world, and not to hang one’s heart on things that pass away.
“After the fever of life; after weariness and sickness; fightings and despondings; languor and fretfulness; struggling and failing, struggling and succeeding; after all the changes and chances of this troubled unhealthy state, at length comes death, at length the White Throne of God, at length the Beatific Vision. After restlessness comes rest, peace, joy; – our eternal portion, if we be worthy; – the sight of the Blessed Three, the Holy One” (PPS VI 369f.). The final and only goal of Christian hope, which is planted in the heart through baptism, is the threefold God. It is to Him that hope stretches out, for He alone can give peace to those inwardly yearning hearts, not only in the coming world, but already here and now.
As this prayer shows, Newman himself lived with this goal before him: “O, my God, I will put myself without reserve into thy hands. Wealth or woe, joy or sorrow, friends or bereavement, honour or humiliation, good report or ill report, comfort or discomfort, Thy presence or the hiding of Thy countenance, all is good if it comes from Thee. Thou art wisdom and Thou art love – what can I desire more? Thou hast led me in thy counsel, and with glory hast Thou received me. What have I in heaven, and apart from Thee what want I upon earth? My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the God of my heart, and my portion for ever”[2].
Trust in Christ
Is the Christian hope not an Utopian one? Is man – small and sinful as he his – capable of looking up to such a high and totally unattainable good?
In his sermon “The Almighty God – the reason for Faith and Hope” Newman answers this question with the remark that God “is not only almighty but all-merciful also … The presence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ excites us to hope quite as much as to faith, because His very name Jesus means Saviour, and because He was so loving, meek, and bountiful when He was on earth”[3]. Hope is rooted in faith in God’s faithfulness and mercy. It is not an achievement, but rather a gift. The Saviour awakens faith in the baptised, and with it also hope. However, man needs to co-operate, and above all to trust.
As Newman realised, it happens often that Christians today, like the Apostles in the boat, are tossed here and there by the raging storm. They fear that Christ “sleeps” and become afraid, lose courage and no longer see a way out. “Why are you afraid?”, called Jesus to his disciples. Newman expands this call, making it heard for us: “You ought to hope, you ought to trust, you ought to repose your heart on me… The storm cannot hurt you if I am with you. Can you be better placed than under My protection? Do you doubt My power or My will, do you think me negligent of you that I sleep in the ship, and unable to help you except I am awake? Wherefore do you doubt? Wherefore do you fear? Have I been so long with you, and you do not yet trust Me and cannot remain in peace and quiet by my side?” (CS 28f).
Christian hope exceeds all worldly hopes and ideals, all purely human capacities and desires. It is a divine virtue. In its trust in the Lord it has a sure anchor and unshakeable foundation. “You look up, and you see, as it were, a great mountain to be scaled; you say, How can I possibly find a path over these giant obstacles? Say not so, my dear brethren, look up in hope, trust in Him who calls you forward… He will lead you forward step by step, as He has led forward many a one before you. He will make the crooked straight and the rough plain. He will turn the streams, and dry up the rivers, which lie in your path” (Mix 213).
Watch and pray
The view to the supernatural goal in no way keeps the hopeful from his earthly duties; on the contrary, the virtue of hope spurs him on to fulfill his responsibilities in the here and now in compliance with the plan of God. The hopeful seeks at all times and in all things for the traces of the Lord on whom his confidence rests. He lives in great inner watchfulness.
“We are not simply to believe, but to watch; not simply to love, but to watch; not simply to obey, but to watch; to watch for what? for that great event, Christ’s coming” (PPS IV 322) Newman means here by the coming of Christ not merely the coming of the Lord on the final day, but also his coming in the events of every day life. “He watches for Christ who has a sensitive, eager, apprehensive mind; who is awake, alive, quick-sighted, zealous in seeking and honouring Him; who looks out for Him in all that happens, and who would not be surprised, who would not be over-agitated or overwhelmed, if he found that He was coming at once” (PPS IV 323).
Besides watchfulness Newman above all sees prayer as realisation of Christian hope. Hope will become concrete in prayer. Prayer, in turn, strengthens hope and makes it firm in the midst of all the joys and worries of life. “Thus the true Christian pierces through the veil of this world and sees the next. He holds intercourse with it; he addresses God, as a child might address his parent, with as clear a view of Him, and with as unmixed a confidence in Him; with deep reverence indeed, and godly fear and awe, but still with certainty and exactness: as St Paul says, ‘I know whom I have believed'” (PPS VII 211).
The virtue of hope impels the Christian to fulfill his passing duties with his eyes on the lasting good. Faith lets him know his goal and hope spurs him on to reach out for it with all his strength. Hope lends to life an “Advent” character. Life is, amid all its concerns, a great “waiting for Christ”[4]. For this reason Newman prays: “Sinner as I am, nevertheless, while I am true to Thee, Thou wilt still and to the end, be superabundantly true to me. I may rest upon Thy arm; I may go to sleep in Thy bosom. Only give me, and increase in me, that true loyalty to Thee , which is the bond of the covenant between Thee and me, and the pledge in my own heart and conscience that Thou, the Supreme God, will not forsake me, the most miserable of Thy children” (MD 422).
[1] Parochial and Plain Sermons (= PPS I-VIII), Sermons Preached on Various Occasions (=OS), Discourses to Mixed Congregations (=Mix), Christian Classics, Westminster 1966-1968.
[2] Meditations and Devotions (=MD), Christian Classics, Westminster 1975, 300.
[3] John Henry Newman, Catholic Sermons (=CS), Burns & Oates, London 1957, 28.
[4] Title of two sermons of Newman: PPS VI 234ff; OS 31ff.