Ultimate hope

Christian hope has the same structure as human hope. Although, of course, the object of Christian hope is God himself. What we Christians ultimately hope for is not only to live longer and better, but to live with God and in God. That is why the Creed of the Christian faith ends with hope: we hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. This Christian hope is well founded. It is not a vain illusion. It is based on the power and mercy of God. If in Jesus Christ, God has shown us the power he has to raise the dead and the great love he has for each and every one of us, then it is logical to expect everything from him.

To love someone is to say to him/her: “I want to be with you always.” From this we understand that the love of God is the source of eternal life: God wants to be always with those he/she loves. On the other hand, those of us who believe that God is at the origin of all life have a good argument here to trust in the power of God, because if God can draw life from where there is, by the same power he can give us life back. To be born is to “appear.” Before being born I was not. At birth there was a leap from not being to being. Why can this leap not be repeated at the moment of my death? Why what can has already happened once not happen again?

This Christian hope in the resurrection of the dead, this hope in living with and in God forever, is not a reason to sit back, but rather a spur to want God's will to be fulfilled here and now, in our reality and in our world. And God's will is life and love for all. God wants not only a future for each of his sons and daughters, but also a present full of life. For this reason, hope in God is a reason to fight for a better world in which human beings find reasons to live and to hope. Without a good present, without this effort to build a world in which the dignity of all is respected, without this present, I say, Christian hope becomes a false consolation.