Spirituality
The Virtue of Hope
Hope: 2021 (X)
A Patent of the Heart-
In unremitting action
Yet never wearing out.”
(Emily Dickinson)
Hope in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) is centered on God (see Jeremiah 14:8; Isaiah 60:19; Psalm 23:6). Abraham and Sarah are models of hope. In the New Testament, the concept of hope is most fully developed by St. Paul (see I Corinthians 13:13 and I Timothy 4:10). See also Hebrews 6:13-19 and, of course, the Resurrection accounts in the four Gospels.
“The disciples on Palm Sunday had false hope. They thought Jesus was the Messiah who was going to bring down the reign of Rome and establish the Kingdom of God on earth” (Pastor James L. Kidd). They had to go through Good Friday and Easter Sunday to get to the core of Jesus’ message.
(Alexander Pope, English poet)
Fr. Max Oliva, S.J.