You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Hey there, Sprouts. Today is Wednesday, December 16th, 2020. This week on the Catholic Spouts podcast during this third week of Advent, we are talking about waiting well, not rushing

ahead to Christmas, but really participating in the waiting of Advent.

We've already talked about the virtues of faith and trust, how they are so important in our

ability to wait well, as we see through the example of our Blessed Mother Mary.

And today we are going to talk about hope.

Now, hope is a very important part of Advent,

but it is a virtue, the virtue of hope.

So it's a little bit different than the way that we use the word hope often.

Oftentimes when we're in a conversation,

we'll say things like, well, I hope that I

get to go to my friend's house tonight. I hope. And when we say that, we're being hopeful or

optimistic. Hope, as we're talking about it today, is a virtue or a wonderful ability or trait that is given to us by God.

And the virtue of hope has to do with our longing for heaven.

So it is the ultimate optimism, right?

The ultimate goal that after this life is done, I will enter eternal

joy with Jesus Christ. Now, have you ever wondered what makes heaven so amazing? Well, we don't

really know quite what it will be like, but we know that we will be perfectly happy. Why? Because we will be there in the

presence of Jesus Christ. That alone is what will make us perfectly happy because he is the

source of all joy, all love. We will be there with the person that made us and love us completely. So in Advent,

we really need to make sure that the greatest longing of our hearts is for heaven and for

that unity with Jesus Christ. So that's my question for you today.

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