Fr. Angelo Anthony, C.PP.S.
The virtue of hope is a gift of the Holy Spirit and given to each of us through God’s covenant of love. Do we use the gift, or do we allow it to be dormant?
The following checklist offers some helpful ways to keep the virtue of hope strong in your life.
A Checklist of Hope
- Cherish memories and the power of imagination. They help us stay in touch with God’s faithfulness and the dream God has placed in our heart which shapes how you and I choose to live.
- Nurture a healthy awareness of yourself as a child of God. Remember and celebrate that you are created in the image and likeness of God.
- See the cross as a gift to be embraced and appreciated. As in the experience childbirth, God is transforming your suffering into joy.
- Tend to a healthy spiritual life. Spirituality is about God’s desire for us and what you and I do with this tug and pull we feel from God.
- Appropriately respond to fear. Live in the truth that you are redeemed in the Blood of Christ and that nothing can separate us from God’s love.
- Choose to live in an environment of patience. This involves an active, attentive posture to life; staying with and living through whatever is before you with open ears, eyes, hands and heart.
- Enter into the practice of simplicity. Find God in the most common of activities and experiences.
- Surround yourself with beauty which puts you in touch with the ultimate beauty which is found in Jesus Christ.
- Spend time in relationships that form community. Your heart expands in love as you reach out to others. It helps you realize that you are part of a much bigger mystery; you don’t have to carry your burdens alone.