I just finished Real Life, Real Love: 7 Paths to a Strong, Lasting Relationship, by Fr. Albert Cutie, and can’t resist sharing this tidbit on hope with you all. I’m a big fan of hope myself, and reading this was just one more thing that made me love this book. (I can’t believe I did love it, to be honest, because it’s so self-helpish, but I did. It rang true, it spoke to my experience, and it helped me think of myself as a little old married lady.)
The virtues of faith, hope, and love are among the strongest pillars of Christianity – essential qualities for anyone who wants to understand the mysteries of God and life. I’ve always felt puzzled, though, that we Christians talk a lot about faith and love, yet hope is a virtue we don’t discuss much. I’m not sure why. Hope is certainly one of the most powerful and important psychological and spiritual attributes as we move through life. The experiences of people who have overcome challenging and even tragic events provide us with inspiring examples of how the power of hope can
strengthen us and change our lives. Hope teaches us that growth is possible despite pain and struggle.Of all the virtues that we can talk about, hope is one of the most necessary. When you have hope, you have a vision. When you have hope, you have a perspective. Hope allows you to move beyond the pain you experience, the confusions you feel, and the struggles you encounter. When you don’t have hope, your horizon narrows. You close yourself into a much smaller space, and your problems and difficulties become obstacles that you’ll find difficult, even impossible, to overcome. You can an almost limitless horizon.