We can uncover the sources of creation and keep them unsullied, and in this way we can make a right use of creation, which comes to us as a gift, according to its intrinsic requirements and ultimate purpose. All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action.
", Finally, a fourth setting is the Judgment of God. Christ descended into “Hell” and is therefore close to those cast into it, transforming their darkness into light.
Pope Benedict XVI promulgated Spe Salvi (Saved by Hope) in 2007. "Two categories become increasingly central to the idea of progress: reason and freedom, which seem to guarantee by themselves, by virtue of their intrinsic goodness, a new and perfect human community.
", After explaining the relationship between hope and faith, the Pope remarks that "many people reject the faith today simply because they do not find the prospect of eternal life attractive…The present crisis of faith," he continues, "is essentially a crisis of Christian hope." This makes sense even if outwardly we achieve nothing or seem powerless in the face of overwhelming hostile forces. In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone —Christ is with me ... How am I to bear with the spectacle, as each day I see emperors, mandarins, and their retinue blaspheming your holy name, O Lord, who are enthroned above the Cherubim and Seraphim? Spe Salvi. We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. Ps 80:1 [79:2]). This holds true both for the individual and for society. "It is a cruel and inhuman society that cannot accept those who suffer. II. ", The Holy Father reminds us that Jesus did not bring "a message of social revolution" like Spartacus, "nor was he engaged in a fight for political liberation like Barabbas or Bar-Kochba." It is important to know that I can always continue to hope, even if in my own life, or the historical period in which I am living, there seems to be nothing left to hope for. We can free our life and the world from the poisons and contaminations that could destroy the present and the future. Suffering is another setting in which we learn how to hope. This is what the saints did, those who, as “God's fellow workers”, contributed to the world's salvation (cf. ", "To come to know God, the true God, means to receive hope," the Holy Father says.
A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through “com-passion” is a cruel and inhuman society. Bernard of Clairvaux coined the marvellous expression: Impassibilis est Deus, sed non incompassibilis[29]—God cannot suffer, but he can suffer with. The Christian faith has shown us that truth, justice and love are not simply ideals, but enormously weighty realities.
Like action, suffering is a part of our human existence. In this episode, we discuss Benedict’s encyclical, the role of hope in the spiritual life, its part in transforming the world, its identifying characteristics, and the impact it has on the believer by looking at … Where is your glory? It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love. “I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join with me in his praises, for his mercy is for ever (Ps 136 [135]). In this way, even the small inconveniences of daily life could acquire meaning and contribute to the economy of good and of human love.
35. "Man can never be redeemed simply from outside…. Let us say it once again: the capacity to suffer for the sake of the truth is the measure of humanity.
Pope Benedict XVI delves into the virtue of hope in his encyclical, Spe Salvi. Although they had worshiped many gods, before they met the true God they were "without hope and without God in the world." But in truly great trials, where I must make a definitive decision to place the truth before my own welfare, career and possessions, I need the certitude of that true, great hope of which we have spoken here. It is, however, hope—not yet fulfilment; hope that gives us the courage to place ourselves on the side of good even in seemingly hopeless situations, aware that, as far as the external course of history is concerned, the power of sin will continue to be a terrible presence.
Yet this capacity to suffer depends on the type and extent of the hope that we bear within us and build upon. Certainly we must do whatever we can to reduce suffering: to avoid as far as possible the suffering of the innocent; to soothe pain; to give assistance in overcoming mental suffering.
Men And Women Religious and All The Lay Faithful Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi The encyclical is a exploration of the theological virtue of hope and its relationship to redemption. Certainly, in our many different sufferings and trials we always need the lesser and greater hopes too—a kind visit, the healing of internal and external wounds, a favourable resolution of a crisis, and so on. However, "grace does not cancel out justice…Evildoers, in the end, do not sit without distinction beside their victims at the table of the eternal banquet, as though nothing had happened.".