It’s hope

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3–5 ESV)

 “I hope we have good weather tomorrow.” “I hope things work out for you.” The way the word “hope” has come to be used, it can have an almost fatalistic ring to it.
 But the apostle Paul is not talking about the wishful thinking kind of hope here. He’s talking about hope of the Gospel. It’s hope that is grounded in faith in God’s love and loving plan for us personally and for humankind. In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul writes, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
 It’s when we face difficulties and the bleak, blank times of life that hope in the deepest, truest sense shines brighter, stronger. This is how the deepening and shaping of our character produces hope.
 Then we won’t shrink from the trials of life or be apprehensive in times of uncertainty. The hope that “does not put us to shame” will never let us down. Why? Because it comes to us through God’s love, which “has been poured into our hearts.” From that love springs faith, hope, and yet more love. —Avi Rue [1]

 Believing is nothing other than, in the darkness of the world, touching the hand of God and thus, in silence, listening to the Word, seeing Love. —Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)

[1] Activated Vol 14, Issue 1