More on Hope

Remember that I wrote on December 3rd of this year: "A priest once told me that Hope is Faith in action-which confused me even more."

Reading Spe Salvi does give me some consolation, or should I say, understanding here. The first part Benedict spends on connecting Faith and Hope. I think the connection finally hits home for me when I read this:

The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future.

Put it this way: I have Faith that God and Heaven and Hell exists and that the Son of God died for my sins and rose again from the dead, opening the gates of Heaven. My actions now, help determine my future. When I commit mortal sin, I am projecting a future in Hell; as I live a virtuously, I am working on a future in Heaven. My hope comes from Faith, but it is a hope of attaining salvation from Christ's sacrifice and in cooperation with it. This last is the "action" part. I must cooperate with God to attain the salvation Christ won for me.

Now it makes sense to me. (Hope I got it right.)

Oremus pro invicem!