Hope is in a religious context, carries a connotation of being aware of what Christians see as spiritual "truth." In Christian theology, hope is one of the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity), which are spiritual gifts of God. In contrast to the above, it is not a physical emotion but a spiritual grace. Hope is distinct from positive thinking, which refers to a therapeutic or systematic process used in psychology for reversing pessimism. The term false hope refers to a hope based entirely around a fantasy or an extremely unlikely outcome. The Catechism of the Catholic Church in Para. 1821: "We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end" and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for "all people to be saved." She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven: Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end." I simply hope to go to heaven when my time comes.

It is a good thing, to hope in the religious sense. Some people hope for more money ... that's not Christian hope, but we could pray for a little more. Hope is a gift of God, another way Our Lord likes to cheer us up ... with something nice to look forward to. In prayer, it is important to have something to hope for. Hope helps us pray for meaningful things. We can just pray and leave the rest to God, but we can pray for specific things. I hope my friend Joe is healed from Leukemia, and I hope President Barrack Obama can put actions to all his words. That takes grit and guts. And we know that government doesn't excel in either since no one wants to "rock the boat" - I hope he is the exception and for that I pray. But I don't know - I do not know him well enough yet. We can always hope! Having worked for the U.S. Government for ten years, I have had an education in what works there, and what doesn't. But with God everything works, if a) it benefits us, b) it benefits the human race, and c) it pleases our Lord. So keep praying!

Many people hope that their lot in life will change. And when it doesn't they often blame God. Sometimes I'd almost say I don't blame them, but most of the time, their bear part of the burden for not allowing God into their lives. Sure, God could make everything go super smoothly, but God looks not for the weak but for the strong, for people with determination and love for Him, people who go all out for Him regardless of the hardship they endure in the process.

Then, many of us, are ungrateful. We have our hip replaced (just an example; my mind is on hips because a friend of mine is having his hip replaced this week), and we go on, and then a problem comes up, maybe financial or something else, and we pray about that, and there is no outcome. And we blame God... but what about the hip replacement? No, the doctors couldn't have accomplished this without God... so God is very much part and parcel of that medical picture. Guess what? We have something to be thankful for after all - God made the hip well. I am not trying to steal the surgeon's thunder, but without God where would we be? Nowhere at all!

So prayer of Hope is important. And the outcome is always God's gift to us. We owe him many thanks, and our love, for that supreme love of His that is always available to us.

Please be well and May God Bless you all!

In the next part, I'll reflect on "Beauty of Mental Prayer."

Fred S. Schaeffer, SFO
1/21/2009