Chapter XII
Love Hopeth All Things

Chapter XII
Love Hopeth All Things

by Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Those who love Jesus Christ hope for all things from Him. Just as love believes all things, so love hopes all things.

Hope increases Charity, and Charity increases Hope, because hope in God's goodness undoubtedly helps us grow in love for Jesus Christ. Saint Thomas says that at the precise moment that we hope to receive something from a person, we also begin to love that person. And this is why the Lord forbids us to place our complete trust in creatures; the more we trust in God, the more we shall grow in His holy love.

How quickly we grow in holiness, when our hearts are filled with confidence in God. We soar, rather than run; for in making God the basis of all our hope, we put aside our own weakness and borrow the strength of God Himself, which He shares with all those who trust in Him.

Like the eagle that flies nearest the sun, those who trust in God, gradually become detached from the Earth, and more and more united to God by love.

Just as Hope increases the love of God, so Love increases Hope, because Charity makes us adopted children of God. By nature, we are creatures of God; but by grace, we become children of God through the merits of Jesus Christ. And if Charity makes us children of God, it also makes us heirs of Heaven. Heirs are entitled to the father's estate; Charity then increases our hope of Heaven so that those who love God sing without ceasing: "Thy kingdom come, Thy kingdom come".

God loves those who love Him. He bestows His graces upon those who desire His love. Those who have the greatest love for God have absolute confidence in His goodness. This confidence creates the serene composure of the saints, which helps them remain joyful and peaceful, even in the midst of the most severe trials. Their love for Jesus Christ, and their faith in His generosity to those who love Him, help them to place all their confidence in His generosity to those who love Him, help them to place all their confidence in Him, and so they find lasting peace.

Mainspring of Hope

The mainspring of Christian Hope is God, Whom we will experience in the Kingdom of Heaven. But we must not assume that the hope of possessing God in Heaven is any obstacle to Charity, since the hope of Heaven cannot be divorced from Charity, from which it receives its full and complete perfection.

Saint Thomas says that friendship is based on the mutual communication of possessions. And since friendship is simply mutual love, it follows that there must be an exchange of the good which each possesses. So the saint says: "If there is no communication, there is no friendship". This is why Jesus Christ said to His disciples: "I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you" - John 15:15. He made them His friends; therefore He communicated all His secrets to them.

Saint Thomas also teaches us that Charity does not exclude a desire for the reward prepared for us by almighty God in Heaven. On the contrary, it helps us realize that the mainspring of our love is God, Who is the Joy of Heaven; for friendship, as we know, implies that friends rejoice with one another.

Souls in Heaven belong completely to God, and God belongs completely to them (according to their individual capacity and merit). Such souls, realizing their own nothingness, receive greater pleasure in giving themselves to Him, than having God give Himself completely to them. They are overjoyed when God gives Himself to them, because they are inspired to surrender themselves to God with greater intensity. They rejoice at the glory that God grants them, but for the sole purpose of referring it back to God Himself. They want to do their utmost to increase His glory.

Meaning of Hope

Saint Thomas defines Christian Hope as a "sure expectation of eternal happiness". Its certainty stems from the infallible promise of God to give eternal life to His faithful servants. Charity, by removing sin, removes all obstacles to our possession of perfect happiness. The greater our love, therefore, the greater our hope of Heaven. Those who love Jesus Christ intensely, cannot help but desire and hope, as long as they remain on earth, to be united with their Lord in Heaven.

Thus we see that the desire to see God in Heaven , not for the consolation of experiencing Him, but for the pleasure we can give God by loving Him, is pure and perfect love. To desire Heaven, therefore, is to desire God, Who is our final end.

We should love Jesus Christ as much as possible here on earth. We should constantly desire to be with Him in Heaven so that we may love Him perfectly. We must focus all our hope on loving Him with all our strength.

This, then, must be the object of all our desires, all our thoughts, and all our hopes: to go to God so that we may love Him with all our strength, and rejoice in Him forever. The saints certainly rejoice in their own happiness in Heaven; but the real source of their joy is the knowledge that their beloved Lord possesses perfect happiness. This is possible because they love God much more than they love themselves.

The moment that souls enter Heaven and see the infinite beauty of God face-to-face in the light of glory, they are consumed with love. Enraptured souls are then immersed in the boundless ocean of the goodness of God. They desire to possess Him entirely, and they do, in fact, possess Him. They no longer have to worry about losing Him. They desire only to give themselves completely to Him. Every moment they offer themselves to God without reserve, and God receives them in His loving embrace. He holds them and shall always hold them in the same fond embrace for all eternity.

In this way, loving souls are completely united to God in Heaven. Their love becomes perfect and complete; and, although it is necessarily finite - since a creature is incapable of infinite love - it makes them perfectly happy and they can desire nothing more. Almighty God, on the other hand, communicates Himself completely to the individual souls, filling them entirely with Himself in proportion to their merits.

This union is much more vital than the one that exists between God and souls here on earth; it is what we call a union of essences. Just as fire penetrates iron and seems to change it into itself, so God penetrates souls and fills them with Himself. They never lose their own being, yet they become so penetrated with the ocean of the divine substance that they seem to cease to exist. Saint Paul asked that this gift might be given to his disciples when he prayed that they might "be filled unto all the fullness of God" - Ephesians 3:19.

This is the goal which the goodness of God has destined for us in Heaven. This is why we can never be completely at rest on earth. Only in Heaven can we attain perfect union with God. It is true that those who love Jesus Christ find peace in the practice of perfect conformity to the will of God, but they cannot find perfect peace in this life. We will possess that only when our final goal is reached, when we see God face-to-face and are consumed with His divine love.

"O my God, make me a saint"
Saint Alphonsus Mary Liguori

Prayer

God, my Creator and my Redeemer, You created me for Heaven. You have redeemed me from Hell. But how many times have I renounced my claim to Heaven by my sins. Blessed be Your Divine Mercy, which reaches out to pardon me and rescue me from eternal punishment.

Jesus, I wish that I had never offended You. I wish that I had always loved You. I am glad, at least, that I still have time to love You.

Love of my soul, I love You with my whole heart. I love You more than myself. I beg You to help me to love You ardently for the rest of my life. I long for the day when You will consume me with Your love by showing me Your infinite beauty. My dearest Redeemer, Your merits are the essence of my hope.

Mary, Queen of Heaven, your intercession is all-powerful with God; I put my trust in you.

Amen