English · An Entry in the Library
Hope
In Aquinas’s theology, hope is the second theological virtue: a movement of the will, raised by grace, that reaches toward eternal happiness as a future good — arduous, but possible to attain with God’s help.
Hope is the second of the three theological virtues. For Aquinas it is a movement of the will, raised by grace, that stretches toward eternal happiness — a good that is difficult, but not impossible, to attain with God’s help.
What is the object of hope?
The object of hope is a future good, difficult but possible to obtain.
— Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae Q.17, a.1
From what does hope arise?
Hope, and every movement of the appetite, proceeds from some kind of love, whereby the expected good is loved.
— Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae Q.17
What does Christian hope finally hope for?
We hope to obtain happiness by means of grace and merits: the proper and principal object of hope is eternal blessedness.
— after Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae Q.17, a.2