Why we can be hopeful

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

THE simple reason is that Christ has done everything to assure us of our earthly victory so we can enter heaven where we are meant to be. We need to strengthen this truth of our faith so that whatever happens—and there will always be some kind of heavy drama involved in our life regardless of our best intentions and efforts—we can remain confident and hopeful, and focused on what is truly important to achieve in our life.

Let us make as our own these words of St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (8,31-32)

As to our ability to do what we are supposed to do despite the varying and even unfavorable circumstances, let us take these words of St. Paul to heart: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4,13)

We should just strengthen our hope that is based on what God shares with us. This is a crucial virtue to have. Given our condition as a pilgrim here on earth, we should make sure that we are always on the move toward our ultimate, spiritual and supernatural goal. 

We should not get distracted or entangled by our earthly affairs, whether good or bad, for as the Letter to Hebrews would put it: “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.” (13,14) Thus, we have to always strengthen our hope.

Hope is first of all not just a virtue that we produce, cultivate or keep ourselves. It is first of all a gift of God, given to us in abundance. It is the gift of Christ himself who, by the Holy Spirit, is made present in us through his words, his sacraments, his Church. All we have to do is to correspond to this wonderful reality as vigorously as possible.

That is why we need to be most mindful of the truths of our faith, giving time to meditate on them and to make them sink in our very consciousness. We have to be wary of our tendency to be carried away by our earthly concerns, no matter how legitimate they are. For again, as the gospel would say, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mk 8,36)

It’s important that just like in that management style called MBO (Management by objective), we have to have a clear vision of our ultimate goal and make it the strongest desire of our life, so that we don’t get entangled with the ups and downs and the drama of life.

This, of course, will require some significant effort, because nowadays people are getting too hooked in their earthly, temporal affairs. Some of them who are considered more in the successful side, get so immersed in them that they forget their spiritual and supernatural goal. Others, who are more on the losing side, eventually fall into discouragement and despair. They end up finding no meaning in life.

With this gift and virtue of hope, we are always given a sense of direction. Our goal is made clear. All the means are made available. Every event, whether humanly good or bad, always has a meaning and can be made use of to attain our eternal goal.