virtue

This was originally prepared as a reflection for a youth ministry session at St. Anthony of Padua parish.

“Hope” is a word we use a lot on a daily basis.  We say things like, “I hope you are doing well,” “I hope I get this job”, “I hope the restaurant has gluten-free food,” “I hope the pandemic will end soon.”  We hope for something which is difficult to attain ourselves.  We don’t say “I hope there will be air to breathe tomorrow,” because we expect there to be air.

But what does “hope” mean in the Christian sense?  What is the virtue of hope?  Ordering of one’s live in the ultimate sense towards God, towards final salvation.  Trust in God, extended into the future.

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This was originally prepared as a reflection for a youth ministry session at St. Anthony of Padua parish.

The word “love” in English is used to mean so many different things these days.  For example, when I say “I love pizza”, does the “love” in that statement equate to a husband saying “I love you” to his wife?

In other languages we find different “types” of love have different words.  For example, in Greek, four main types of love are:

• storge – familial love, love between parent and child
• philia – friendship or bonds between people with common values or interests;
• eros – romantic or intimate love;
• agape – the kind of love that Christ taught and showed and this is the type of love we will be focusing on today.

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