Reflection for the Week - July 9

Renewed and being renewed selves are to be saturated in hope. This hope is best pictured as a virtue – a good character trait, made possible by God’s grace – the key that unlocks the direction towards that which is worthy of hope. Feelings of hope may be valid, but they must undergo a dialogue with the notions of trust and suspicion, in order to evaluate their referents. But even when feelings of hope are considered trustworthy, they are not to be embraced as ends in and of themselves. This happens to be the case, because hope is more than feelings. Hope reflects, therefore, a deliberate way of viewing life and destiny that translates into a state of being, which promotes a holistic configuration of selfhood and a confident looking forward to all that’s good.