Feb 17 Mon
Should my hope rest on the belief in eternal life?
One of the primary foundational roots of Christian hope is the belief that we are not meant to live forever on earth, but eternally with God.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1817).
Hope directs our glance beyond ourselves and invites us to look forward to the eternal reward God has prepared for us in Heaven.
In Hebrew, the word qavah conveys hope as a form of waiting. Like a cord being pulled tight, it implies a sense of tension and expectation. It is not a passive, idle waiting but an active anticipation rooted in trust.
This tension acknowledges the reality of struggle while firmly holding onto the certainty of God’s faithfulness. He will give us the patience required to sustain that hope.
Isaiah 40:31 captures this beautifully: “But they who wait (qavah) for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Here, qavah emphasizes the transformative power of waiting for God. It is a hope that energizes us, even amid fatigue and struggle.
Pope Benedict XVI reflects on this aspect of Christian hope in his encyclical, “Spe Salvi", by connecting it to baptism:
“Today as in the past, this is what being baptized, becoming Christians, is all about: it is not just an act of socialization within the community, not simply a welcome into the Church. The parents expect that faith, in the Church and her sacraments, will give life to their child –eternal life.”
Yet, many of us have doubts about eternity, as Pope Benedict XVI points out:
“Faith is the substance of hope. But then the question arises: do we really want this –to live eternally? Perhaps many people reject the faith today simply because they do not find the prospect of eternal life attractive. What they desire is not eternal life at all, but this present life, for which faith in eternal life seems something of an obstacle.”
Pope Benedict XVI believed that the key to Christian hope is to long for Heaven, seeing it as a destination that gives us pure joy:
“We can only attempt to grasp the idea that heaven is life in the full sense, a plunging ever anew into the vastness of being, in which we are simply overwhelmed with joy. This is how Jesus expresses it in Saint John's Gospel: ‘I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you’ (16:22). We must think along these lines if we want to understand the object of Christian hope, to understand what it is that our faith, our being with Christ, leads us to expect.”
To cultivate Christian hope in our lives, we need to look forward to that day when we will be united fully with Jesus Christ.
It will not be a day of sadness, but one of pure and inexpressible joy, a joy we will experience for all eternity.
Excerpts from Philip Kosloski
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