fulfilling His promises. Without faith Christian hope would not be
possible. This the Apostle Paul teaches in his Epistle to the
Corinthians, in plain words: "Faith," he writes, "is the substance of
things hoped for" (Heb. xi, i). Hope is really, therefore, an active
faith in the mercy and generosity of God. Christian hope is just as
necessary for salvation as faith. "For we are saved by hope." Thus the
Apostle writes in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. viii, 24). Hence,
when we lose hope we forfeit our salvation.

Christian hope is in part desire, in part confidence. It is a lively
desire for eternal happiness, for the possession of God and for the
means which aid us in gaining salvation. It contains in itself a
heartfelt desire for forgiveness of sins, and for liberation from the
punishment due to sins. It includes an ardent longing for a virtuous
Christian life. It is that hunger and thirst for justice of which
Christ speaks in the eight Beatitudes. As God is the supreme good,
combining every other good, so our desire for the blessed possession of
God must be the sincerest, indeed, the sole, desire of our hearts. All
other things we may desire only on God's account, and only in so far as
they are the means to help us to the possession of God. Whoever
experiences this desire will zealously pray for all things; he will be
a man of prayer.

Christian hope is not only desire, but also confidence. God has
promised us forgiveness of our sins and the grace to do the good that
is required of us. He has promised us after a Christian life the
eternal happiness of heaven. He is ready to fulfil His promises. The
fulfillment of the divine promise depends, however, upon our own
co-operation, upon our sincere good-will, upon our co-operation with
grace. Our confidence must, therefore, never become presumption. The