Spe salvi, 1

The introduction to the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI’s second encyclical on Christian hope, Spe salvi, will have, it seems to me, one of two effects on the reader: it will either lead the reader in great excitement into the following paragraphs, or it will confuse the reader terribly and lead him or her to put the encyclical down, never to be picked up again.

It is a brilliant introduction that encapsulates beautifully the context of the entire encyclical and lays it out rather clearly, though it does pose a most difficult question:

[W]hat sort of hope could ever justify the statement that, on the basis of that hope and simply because it exists, we are redeemed? And what sort of certainty is expressed here (1)?

The thrill of this intellectual and spiritual hunt has been ignited and the hounds have been released to go in search of the answer, even if the question leaves one at first a bit dumbfounded.

The question posed by the Holy Father comes from his reflection on the writings of the Apostle Paul: “For in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:24).

Saint John Chrysostom explained this passage thus:

What Paul means is that we are not to expect everything to be given to us in this life, but we are to have hope as well. For the only thing we brought to God was our faith in the promises of what was to come, and it was in this way that we were saved. If we lose this hope, we lose the one thing which we have contributed to our salvation (Homilies on Romans, 14).

Without hope, there is no salvation.

Pope Benedict XVI reminds us: “redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face the present” (Spe salvi, 1).

Not only is this hope a key aspect of the Christian faith, one of those three things that will remain, it is also trustworthy (cf. I Corinthians 13:13). It cannot, therefore, be the same sort of hope that we might have when we hope to win the lottery; it is something far more profound.

It is because of hope that “the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads toward a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey” (Spe salvi, 1).

Who would deny that life, that discipleship, is often arduous? Even so, this difficult pilgrimage of faith can be lived, it can be ventured, so long as the goal is known to us.

We know the goal of our pilgrimage: it is Christ himself, and surely there can be no greater reason to embark upon a journey, difficult and strenuous though it may be, than the one “who gives flesh and blood to those concepts [of love] – an unprecedented realism” (Deus caritas est, 12).

But this hope we have been given, this Christian hope, is a curious thing for it itself saves us: “For in this hope we were saved.” How is it that hope, which is the expectation, the anticipation, of the future can save us? We are saved in hope because it is Christ Jesus himself who is our hope (cf. I Timothy 1:1).

This is the fascinating question of this encyclical.