Second in a Series

At the beginning of Pope Benedict’s encyclical on hope, “Spe Salvi” (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2007), the Holy Father makes a point about hope that I think is especially important to make in the contemporary world. Pope Benedict stresses that hope changes the meaning of the future and also the present for the person who hopes.

For the person who hopes the future holds out the possibility for complete fulfillment. Hope tells us that personal existence has a goal, that any disappointments that we have had are not the final word about our lives. In revealing that we are justified in hoping for a final union with God hope can enable us to see a more profound meaning to human existence and a deeper dignity that people have. Saint Augustine said it succinctly and accurately when he wrote that our hearts are restless until they rest in the Lord. The Holy Father writes the following:

“‘Spe: Salvi facti sumus’ – in hope we were saved, says St. Paul to the Romans, and likewise to us (Rom. 8:24). According to the Christian faith, ‘redempton’ – salvation – is not simply a given. Redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey. Now the question immediately arises; what sort of hope could ever justify the statement that, on the basis of that hope and simply because it exists, we are redeemed? And what sort of certainty is involved here?”

In discussions I have had with students and others over the years I have stressed that belief in the immortality of persons changes profoundly the meaning of personal existence. Hope changes not only the meaning of the future but also the meaning of the present. If life on earth is all that we can expect or hope for then human living is robbed of its richness and human love really is counterfeit. If this earthly existence is all that there is then death wins and love loses.

I believe that whenever anyone loves someone the intention is to love that person forever. It is impossible to intend to love someone for a weekend. In fact someone may love someone only for a weekend but that cannot be the intention when the love relationship begins. Whenever someone sincerely says “I love you” the intention is to love that person always, to never withdraw that love. The richest type of love is unconditional. The lover ought never to put a condition on his or her love. The lover ought never to say “I love you if.” At least implicitly every lover says “I love you because you are you.” Hope is related to God’s unconditional love for us and that love will conquer all obstacles, even death.

We tend to think of the future as something external to us, something that happens to us that we have little or no control over. It is similar to the way that we think of the weather, something which we have little influence over and must just accept. I think this is an incorrect way to look at the future. Of course we can not control whether it rains or snows and we have no control over when or how we die. But we do have significant influence over whom it rains or snows on, and significant influence on who dies. By our free choices we create ourselves or better we co-create ourselves along with God. The priest who is writing this column is the priest he is because of God’s free choice and my free choices. Of course, there have been many external influences in my life ranging from family and friends to schools and the Church. But the bottom line is I am who I am because I have made free choices. I believe that this is true of most adults.

Because I am creating myself by my free choices I have significant influence over the meaning of my future. I do not control external events but I do choose the person who experiences those events. In that sense I create my future because I create the person who is moving into the future and who will experience future events.

Reading the pope’s encyclical on hope has helped me to see how hope, by giving us a promise for the future, frees us in the present. What is there to fear? Even death itself has been conquered through the death and resurrection of Jesus.