Don’t Give Up Now Part II

Hope becomes expectation, which when unchecked, leads to disappointment.

Not All hope is Created Equal

We can spend years hoping in vain — that things will get better, that someone will change, that time or suffering or prayer will finally reward us. And when it doesn’t — what happens to hope? Who do you blame? To what do you turn?

Clinging too tightly to the wrong kind can leave us disillusioned. You’ve likely heard the phrase: faith, hope, and love — whether in the pews of a church at a wedding or quoted in literature. This rule of three is quickly known by many, and loved by some. These are called the theological virtues. They come from 1 Corinthians 13. Later the passage continues, the greatest of these is love. Beautiful. Faith is understood as a gift from God, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and through faith we can see certainty in God’s promise. We will get there later. So, how stupid am I to recommend you don’t hold on too tightly to hope. One of the theological virtues!

Bear with me. We are going to unpack a few types of hopes. If you are a person who is often disappointed, or disappointed easily, this may be deconstructive for you. Unpacking this piece of the beauty in perseverance has been monumentally necessary through the emboldening of my faith. My understanding of God, my relationship with him, and my trust in his promise demands virtue.

My last article encouraged you to continue the removal of vice and replace it with virtue. To move deeper into the resurrection, we must sacrifice ourselves. Our vices. Our evil. Our failure to do good. We can often become entangled in hope — not the theological virtue, but its worldly imitations. And reliance on these lesser hopes can be dangerous. We mustn’t loosen our grip so much that we give our desires, faith, and work to hope. Have you ever seen a wheel of fortune? The contestants spin the wheel with excitement, offering up the outcome of luck to the wheel? This excitement turns into hope, hope in monetary reward. There are two outcomes, good and bad. There is gravity to both, but when you see the disappointment on a contestant's face when they lose all the money they’ve ‘gained’ until this point, you can’t help but feel disappointed for them as well.

Yet when the wheel lands on green, multi-digit, high dollar wins, we rejoice with the contestant. They gave up their efforts to lady fortune, their merit earned through the spinning of a wheel, and she answered them. What she gives, she takes away. Let’s unpack this kind of hope.

Spes Fallax - False hope

Christians don’t believe in luck. They also don’t believe in lady fortune. This recently revitalized mythical character comes from ancient Roman philosophy. While philosophy offers us much good, and many Christian teachers lean heavily on philosophy – it falls short where theology goes this distance. False hope. This is misplaced in fortune. Placing our hope in fortune means risking everything — but often gaining nothing of lasting value. Placing hope in fortune is similar to betting, or blindly speculating. When people invest $100 in a stock and make 25%, they’re intelligent and wise. When someone loses 25%, it is written off as bad luck. This is the problem with giving it up to fortune, is this hope will never be consistent, and it will not persevere. If you set out on a sailboat with no direction, no knowledge of how to control the sails, who knows where you will end up. This is why it is false, true hope cannot be false – that would be a contradiction.

Vana Spes - Vain hope

This is sometimes referred to as deceptive hope, we often deceive ourselves. This is a hope that has no foundation. Groundless. Hollow. Empty. Just as false hope we still desire a good outcome, yet it is often based on vain illusions. This comes when the object hoped for is unattainable or outright unreal. The source trusted to bring it about is weak, changeable, and cunningly deceptive. Think of the modern day guru, the men and women promising you ways to 10x your money, your wealth, your possessions. Most quickly perceive the deceit, yet sadly some are persuaded. This is an age-old trick, rather than there being a need to prove the guru’s ethos (or credibility), delusions of grandeur are flashed in front of your eyes. The person on screen in front of you surrounded by their mansion, super cars, and wealth is playing with an ancient sales tactic - the empty promise. If it doesn’t work out, they aren’t to blame though! The goalposts will shift, and bad luck of lady fortune will be invoked. Not only do these worldly goods fade away and decay, they never satisfy you. Power, possessions, fame and fortune, will never complete you – they will never replace the God sized hole in your heart. This is why it is called hope in vain.

Firma Spes - Firm hope

Have you heard someone say they are blessed in reference to their possessions? Does something feel incorrect about that? I have often wondered why most don’t say it more clearly: “I thank God for my wealth.” I have come across a few, often the very wealthy - who transparently thank God for their estate. They know this is not a blessing like the beatitudes (beatitudo), rather these are goods that will fade away. Decay and return to dust. Those who have lost an estate will know that a true friend is one who mourns with you in the loss of the estate, not just the gain of fame and fortune. You see, blessing is a better word for eternal happiness. Happiness is not always lasting, and has been watered down to mean satisfied. To be blessed is to experience a consolation that is above things. It is above the earth. It is supernatural, and cannot be found in the material. Hope when it is placed in the eternal does become firm. No longer is man relying on the constant turning of the wheel of fortune, now he is relying on the unchanging good - rooted in divine wisdom. If you have ever debated the existence of God you have likely come across the problem of objective morality. This is a taste of divine wisdom. God’s eternal presence and divine nature can be clearly perceived in this way. Firm hope is the closest to theological hope, because it is turned toward the eternal goodness of God, thus turned towards the creator himself; God. Seek the things that are above the changeable things of this world.

Therefore; turn to Hope of Salvation

“Hope is the confident expectation of divine blessing and the beatific vision of God; it keeps us from discouragement and sustains us during times of abandonment.” (CCC. 1817-1821) These false hopes can be summarized as a lesser good, they are not explicitly bad or evil, and they are not sustained, rarely persevering more than a few days. Theological hope is grounded so deeply—and cultivated so faithfully—that it draws the soul into the perseverance of God's will, becoming a true consolation, uniting us to the beatific will of God. Even the best earthly hopes — for fortune, honor, pleasure, or power — are fragile and fleeting, unable to satisfy the soul's deepest thirst. True hope must rise higher, reaching beyond the shifting goods of this world…

Spes Salutis - The Anchor in the Promise

Have you ever heard of the assurance of salvation (certitudo) ? Have you heard of the hope of salvation (spes salutis)? These are the most connected. This comes from God’s faithfulness, not human strength. This is theological hope. The study of salvation, and the plan God has for humanity is full of hope. The prefigurements in the Old Testament through the various covenants are not just full of prophetic language, they are full of hope. Consolation in the Old Testament scriptures is fulfilled through the cross, and hope is complete. The certitudo fidei is a dying trait in modern Catholics. Online Catholics, Cultural Catholics, Cafeteria Catholics, and Auto-Pilot Catholics all seem to lean into the propaganda of works based faith. This strawman of Catholicism has led many to lose sight of certitudo fidei — the deep, rooted assurance of salvation offered through grace.

On April 21st, 2025, Pope Francis passed. The Jubilee, the pilgrims of hope, are called to seek out the marginalized. Hope is brought to the forefront of the mind, the heart, and the work of Pope Francis through his papacy, but also through the shift in focus of the church. Pope Francis wrote in Hope Does not Disappoint that hope confronts contemporary challenges. This urges the faithful to become tangible signs of God’s compassion. The Jubilee calls us into the Spes Non Confundit. This is not only a spiritual compass, but a call to be rooted in the divine. God’s love is a hope that does not disappoint. To be continued.

Honorable Mentions:

Spes Aeterna - Eternal Hope

To prevent any confusion, this is the object of eternal life. This is not about the certainty in the same way as the preceding hope.

Spes Fidei - Indirect Hope through Faith

Emphasizes faith as the foundation of hope, but it is a little broader and more relational (hope because of faith) rather than the object (salvation) itself, thereforel this hope emboldens both predecessors, yet is inferior to spes salutis and certitudo.

God Bless You.