The Virtue of Hope

Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies

Bishop Robert Barron

Spirituality, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2010

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hope is not this-worldly optimism. In fact, from a purely natural perspective, pessimism is the right attitude. Hope is that supernatural virtue which orders our desire toward heaven and the things of heaven. What Isaiah talks about in our first reading is not an expectation that will be realized here below, but only in a transfigured world on high.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next two minutes to reflect
0:09.0	with Father Robert Barron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire. Word on Fire Catholic
0:14.2	Ministries is a non-profit ministry at the forefront of Catholic evangelization, using
0:18.9	new media to spread the faith and every continent. Father Barron challenges us to open our hearts
0:23.9	to the Word on Fire, which is God's Word of Love for each of us. If our hearts are open,
0:29.5	the Lord can change and transform us so that we might speak with love about the one who
0:34.6	is love. The global benefactors of Word on Fire with the support of the Archdiocese of
0:39.4	Chicago now present Word on Fire. Peace be with you. Friends, hope is in the air. Not just
0:49.7	because it's Advent Christmas is coming, but because Pope Benedict has written cyclical
0:54.5	letter on hope. And our readings today for this third Sunday of Advent are all about hope.
1:02.9	You know, they're natural virtues. I've spoken to you about them before, justice, prudence,
1:11.0	temperance, fortitude. These were recognized by Aristotle and Plato and Cicero. They come through
1:18.7	reason and habituation. Any reasonable person can acquire them and practice them. Okay, and the
1:25.5	church has always embraced the natural virtues. But above and beyond these natural virtues,
1:32.6	are what our tradition calls supernatural or theological virtues. These come not through reason
1:43.8	and practice, but through the in rushing of grace. Only when grace comes rushing into your life,
1:53.2	are you imbued with these virtues of faith, hope, and love. So I want to talk about hope.
2:03.4	The readings are filled with this theme today. What is hope is the theological virtue by which
2:11.3	our lives are ordered toward heaven and the things of heaven as our ultimate good. Let me say that
2:19.9	again. Hope is the theological virtue. It comes from the in rushing of grace, the virtue by which
2:25.8	our lives are ordered toward heaven and the things of heaven as our ultimate good. Hope is that virtue
2:35.6	that pushes us beyond this world and it struggles and conflicts and directs the gaze of our soul
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