Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus’ preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the “hope that does not disappoint” (Rm 5:5). Hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…that enters…where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf” (Heb 6: 19-20) (§1820).
For us as Christians, “the courage of knowledge” is not a formula, not a doctrine. It is an act of trust, one born by an intimate relationship with the person whom we trust. Christ is the knowledge that gives us courage because to know Christ is to learn that we are loved by him. Put another way, if you do not know that you are loved, you know Christ only as an idea, not as a person.
The revolutionary meaning of Christian hope | America Magazine
For us as Christians, “the courage of knowledge” is not a formula, not a doctrine. It is an act of trust, one born by an intimate relationship with the person whom we trust. Christ is the knowledge that gives us courage because to know Christ is to learn that we are loved by him. Put another way, if you do not know that you are loved, you know Christ only as an idea, not as a person.
The revolutionary meaning of Christian hope | America Magazine