HOW LOVE IS PRACTISED IN HOPE
The human intellect suitably applies itself to reflect on what faith reveals about the supreme good. Immediately the will experiences an intense delight in this divine object. But this object is absent. So it creates [in us] a burning desire for its presence. The soul exclaims: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth (Song 1:2).
It is God for whom I sigh.
It is God whom my heart desires (Ps 42:1).
The falconer removes the hood from the falcon. It sees its prey and suddenly launches into flight. If it is held back by a strap, it flutters on its fist with vehement ardour. So too, faith removes our ignorance from us and makes us see our supreme good. Nevertheless, we cannot still possess it as we are held back by the situations of our mortal life, Well, Theotimus, we seek it then so that:
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God (Ps 42:1, 2).
This desire is righteous. For who would not long for a good so desirable? But this would become a useless desire. It would serve only for a continual martyrdom of our heart, if we would not have the assurance of possessing it one day. The Psalmist complained against the delay of possessing this happiness. His tears were his daily bread night and day while his God was absent from him. His enemies were asking him: Where is your God? (Ps 42:3). Alas! What would he have done, had he not some hope of being able to enjoy this good for which he was sighing? The divine spouse goes in tears, languishing with love because she is not finding soon the Beloved she is seeking (Song 5:8). The love of the Beloved had created in her a desire. This desire caused in her a burning desire for pursuit. This ardour caused in her weakness that would have annihilated and consumed her poor heart if she did not have some hope of finding what she was pursuing.
Thus, the efforts of the love that seeks causes in us anxiety and painful weakness [due to tenderness]. These do not lead us to lack of courage and reduce us to despair. For the same supreme good causes us to long for it, so earnestly assures us that we can attain it very easily. God does this through the thousands of promises he has made by his word and by his inspirations. The only condition is that we should make use of the means he has prepared and offers us for the same purpose.
These divine promises and assurances increase the cause of our anxiety. Here is something wonderful. In so far as they increase the cause, they ruin and destroy the effects. Yes, indeed, Theotimus, God gives us the assurance that paradise is for us. It strengthens infinitely our desire to enjoy it. Thus, it weakens and destroys completely the worry and anxiety which this desire brings us. So our hearts remain perfectly calm because of the sacred promises made by divine goodness. Thus peace is the root of the holy virtue we call hope. For the will is assured by faith that it can enjoy the supreme good by making good use of the means destined for this purpose. So the will makes two great acts of virtue. By one, we expect from God the enjoyment of his supreme goodness. By the other, we strive after this holy enjoyment.
Truly, Theotimus, there is this difference between hope and striving (esperer et aspirer). We hope for things which we expect with the help of another person. We strive for things which we long for by our own means, by ourselves. We come to the enjoyment of our supreme good who is God, first and foremost, by his favour, grace and mercy. However, this same mercy wants us to cooperate with his favour by offering the weakness of our consent to the power of his grace. Hence our hope is in some way mixed with our striving so that we do not hope at all without striving. So hope holds the first rank, as it is based on divine grace. Without grace, we cannot even think of our supreme good, God, (2 Cor 3:5) in such a way as to reach him. Likewise, we cannot strive after God in such a way as to attain him.
Striving, then, is an offspring of hope as our cooperation is that of grace. Those who wish to hope without striving will be rejected as cowards and careless. So too, those who wish to strive without hope are rash, proud and presumptuous. When hope is followed by striving and in hoping we strive and in striving we hope, then dear Theotimus, hope is changed into a courageous decision by striving. Striving is changed into a humble longing by hope, hoping and striving for what God inspires us. However, both are caused by this love of desire which tends to our supreme good. In so far as the good is more surely hoped for, the more it is always loved.
Thus hope is nothing else than a loving delight that we experience in the expectation and desire of our supreme good. In this supreme good, all is love. As soon as faith showed me my supreme good, I loved it. Since it was away from me, I desired it. In so far as I knew that he wanted to give himself to me, I loved him more fervently and longed for him. His goodness is all the more lovable and desireable as it is quite ready to communicate itself [to me]. Gradually love transforms its desire into hope, seeking and expectation, so that hope is a love that expects and longs for [God]. God is the supreme good which hope expects and does not expect it except from God himself for whom and by whom it hopes and strives. Hence, this holy virtue is related to God in all aspects. Therefore, it is a divine or theological virtue.