Evangelization Outreach / Ken Ogorek

Two enemies of hope: know them to have more hope

Carbon monoxide detectors. We have them because, although carbon monoxide is an enemy of oxygen in a sense, we can’t detect carbon monoxide on our own. We need help.

Please consider this column as an aid to assist you in detecting two realities that can work against a strong presence of hope in your life. Once detected, you can take steps to diminish these two enemies of hope, helping this important virtue fill your heart, strengthening your friendship with God.

Beyond down in the dumps

We all feel a bit down every now and then. When having the blues shows signs of clinical depression, there’s no shame in seeking professional help. Removing the stigma attached to counseling and therapy in the face of serious mental struggles is very important.

Short of depression, though, an enemy of hope can creep in to our life: despair. Despair makes us question God’s love for us, his ability to help us. Sometimes despair leads us to justify one or more unhealthy behaviors—unhealthy physically, spiritually or emotionally.

The lies that despair whispers in our ears can make us lose sight of an important lesson lovingly shared by Jesus: on the other side of suffering, new life often awaits.

Knowing what despair is, and being able to identify it in our life, helps alert us to when we need to pray for growth in the virtue of hope—availing ourselves of sacramental grace as well as additional helps for our journey of faith.

I’m not Hitler, so I guess I’m going to heaven

A second main enemy of hope rears its head with thoughts like “I presume I’m going to heaven because, you know, I’m a nice person. A good person—at least as I define good. Not even sure if I need all that churchy stuff.”

This thief of authentic hope is called presumption. Presumption makes us vulnerable to a false hope in the Jesus I create in my image and likeness—a supreme being who affirms how I vote, how I spend my money, what I do in the bedroom and how I treat my neighbor—never challenging me to try following all of Church teaching, including those I find personally challenging.

While it’s OK to have confidence in our odds for heaven, getting there takes more than being a good or nice person in a vague sense.

Our one and only true hope for heaven is the living, risen Jesus—accepting his gift of salvation, striving for a life of merit as he defines it through his Church, running into his merciful arms when we fall short in our lifelong struggle with sin.

Ask and you will receive

How then can I grow in hope?

“Pilgrims of Hope” is the theme capturing our attention during this Jubilee Year. The best way to grow in the virtue of hope is, acknowledging that it’s a gift from God, to pray for it fervently and frequently.

As mentioned above, being on the lookout for hope’s enemies in our life as well as placing a sacramental prayer life high on our priority list helps ensure our ongoing growth in hope.

Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus and Our Lady of Hope, may you conquer hope’s enemies by God’s grace and mercy, embracing his beautiful gift of hope and hopefulness, living an authentically hope-filled life.
 

(Ken Ogorek is executive director within the archdiocesan Secretariat for Evangelizing Catechesis. He can be reached at kogorek@archindy.org.) †