That Word "Hope"

For those who believe in Jesus Christ, there is much hope because of what the Scriptures say He promised.  Consider the following words of Jesus from the Gospel of St. John:  “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed to life.”  (John 5:24). 

One might ask what is meant by “the one who sent me?”  We take this to mean God the Father, the first person of the Blessed Trinity.  In other words, God.  One might also ask what is meant by “eternal life?”  Christians believe that this refers to the afterlife and that it is a place called “heaven.”  Heaven is a place where both soul and body will eventually be for all eternity if a person is “saved.”  On the other hand, if a person is not saved, they will “come to condemnation,” which means the body and soul will go to a place we call “hell,” sometimes referred to in Scripture as “Gehenna,” a place of torment, for all eternity.

The following Scripture passage is found a few lines later in John’s Gospel, again words of Jesus:  “Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.”  (John 5:28-29).  This makes it clear to me that simple belief (faith by itself, or “faith alone”) is not sufficient, but one must also perform “good deeds.”  This is a point of contention between Protestant Christians and Catholics Christians.  Faith alone, or “Sola Fide,” is a Protestant doctrine, and not a Catholic doctrine.  Catholics believe that true faith will be accompanied by good deeds (Sacraments, assistance to the marginalized, etc.).

But whatever your interpretation of Scripture entails, even if you are an atheist, that word “hope” that I used in the first sentence of this post is a key to our happiness in our earthly existence.  Hope is the virtue that says that extreme happiness is in our future.  We will one day escape the confines of this wicked world and come to a place that is free from all that is evil.  What great joy and love is ahead of us if we would only “repent and believe in the Gospels.”  That is why I believe.  I delight in this great hope we call eternal life and it makes for a beautiful and blissful time on earth despite the evil.  Think tulips everyone!  Happy spring!