Hope – Great Lenten Retreat Week Six
Welcome to our sixth week of our Great Lent retreat, with hope as our virtue to grow in. This is the forth article in our Great Lent retreat series. So if you missed the earlier article on Humility and Justice, check it out here. Our second week’s article on Temperance and Living in the Moment here, and our third article on Fortitude may be read here. Week four article: Diligence + Prudence can be read here, and last week’s article on the virtue of faith here.
Understanding the Virtues
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)
What is Hope?
In a previous article we discussed hope, the virtue of our faith, and how it is the virtue between despair and presumption. There is already a lot of great content on this virtue in the article, so I really recommend checking it out as a part of this week’s Lenten retreat. However, I will add a bit more content on the virtue for the sake of this week’s article.
In Christ Our Pascua, the Ukrainian Catholic Catechism, we read that “Hope is the expectation of the fullness of God’s kingdom given to us” (840). As a virtue, hope is rooted in faith, for without faith there can be no hope. The virtue of hope purifies our earthly hopes and directs them to God (CCC 1818). It is hope that keeps us from selfishness and discouragement (also CCC 1818). And the virtue of hope encourages us in our longing to unite forever with Christ, “in the glory of heaven” (CCC 1821).
Hope by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky
There is a section within Christ Our Pascua, where Andrey Sheptytsky is quoted regarding his observations on the virtue of hope. The original place for these words was in Sheptytsky’s The Wisdom of God. Here is what the Metropolitan has to say:
Hope is certain because it is grounded in God’s testimony, in His
promise, in his goodness, in the fact that it is simply impossible for
God to fail to keep his promise. No one and no thing can weaken
this certainty; it grows to the extent that we grow closer to the
Lord our God, that is, as we progress in God’s grace or simply how
we live Christian lives. (as quoted in CCC 841).
Hope and Lent
Christ did not have hope for His Soul, because He is a divine person. However, Christ did have hope for His body. So we can spend time this week contemplating how Christ had hope for the resurrection and glorification. This may be esspecially fruitful to contemplate in connection with the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary:
- The Agony in the Garden
- The Scourging
- The Crowning with Thorns
- The Carrying of the Cross
- The Crucifiction
Although these mysteries are indeed very spiritual events, they are also very physical events. And although Christ’s pain was not only physical, it still also was. The pain underwent by Christ was not a rejection of His body, but rather in anticipation of His hope. By suffering and dying for us, Christ renews all humanity with and through these actions completed in His body.
Acts of Hope
In order to grow in the virtue of hope, we first must pray for this virtue. Hope springs from faith, and so by growing our faith we may hope to grow in hope as well! Praying for an openness to grace is the continuation of praying for this virtue.
Recognize the small ways our hope is already fulfilled. Be grateful to God for the many blessings in your life, no matter how small.
Build your connection to the Third Person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. Heavenly King, Advocate, Spririt of Truth. Who are everywhere present and fill all things. Treasury of blessings and Bestower of life. Come and dwell within us. Cleanse us of all that defiles us. And, O Good One, save our souls.
Remember to unite your small earthly hopes to our great Christian Hope.
The Byzantine Life
If you enjoyed this week’s article, you might want to check out our Lenten Articles. Great Lent covers fasting and abstinence, saying Alleluia, Presanctified Liturgy, and ways to actively participate in Great Lent with your family. W also have an article about Holy Week: A Guide to What Happens During Holy Week.
Also don’t forget to read about Hope, the Virtue of Our Faith for more on this theological virtue!
Great Lent Virtues Retreat Schedule
(links will only work after publishing day, the Thursday prior to that week of Great Lent)
28 February – Week One – Humility and Justice – https://thebyzantinelife.com/great-lent-humility-justice/
7 March – Week Two – Living in the Moment and Temperance – https://thebyzantinelife.com/great-lent-temperance/
14 March – Week Three – Fortitude: Patience + Perseverance – https://thebyzantinelife.com/great-lent-fortitude/
21 March – Week Four – Diligence + Prudence – https://thebyzantinelife.com/great-lent-diligence-prudence/
28 March Week Five – Faith – https://thebyzantinelife.com/great-lent-faith/
4 April – Week Six – This Article!
11 April – Week Seven – Love and Charity – https://thebyzantinelife.com/great-lent-love/
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