Faith and Hope: Guiding Lights in Life
The Five Aspects of Faith:
- A gift from God: Faith is a gift from God and theological virtue that allows people to know and love God, respond to divine revelation, and live out their response.
- A friend of reason: Faith works with reason to discover truth.
- A relationship with Jesus Christ: The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of Christian faith.
- A living faith: Faith is not just a belief, but a living faith that works through charity.
- A profession of faith: Disciples of Christ should profess their faith, bear witness to it, and spread it.
The Five Aspects of Hope:
- A theological virtue.
- Gives us the desire for the kingdom of heaven and eternal life.
- We place our trust in Christ’s promises.
- We do not rely on our own strength.
- We rely on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.
How Faith and Hope Work Together
Faith and hope work together as interconnected theological virtues, where faith acts as the foundation for hope, providing the belief in God’s promises that allows one to confidently anticipate future blessings and salvation, essentially meaning that by believing in God’s truths through faith, one is able to actively hope for the fulfillment of those truths in their life and the afterlife; without faith, there can be no true hope.
Key points about the relationship between faith and hope:
- Faith as the basis:Faith is the bedrock, providing the foundation for hope by establishing the reality of God’s existence and promises.
- Hope as the future focus:Hope is the anticipation of future good, relying on the truths established through faith.
- Interdependence:One cannot truly have hope without a strong foundation of faith, and a vibrant faith naturally leads to a strong sense of hope
