Hope is frequently talked about among both Christians and non-Christians alike and has a variety of definitions.
In the Catholic Church, hope is a theological virtue and should be an essential part of everyone's spiritual life.
Theological virtue
The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists hope in its section on virtues. It is one of the three primary "theological virtues," alongside faith and charity.
In particular, the Catechism defines hope as "the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit" (CCC 1817)
The Catechism also explains how Christian hope has great potential for keeping us from discouragement and feelings of despair:
The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.
Christian hope points us toward our ultimate destiny of Heaven, trusting in God's promises to his people:
We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end" and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ.
We are all in need of hope, and if we need to grow in hope, we can ask the Blessed Mother to intercede for us and help increase our hope.
