Ran into these this morning; really needed them.

When our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human and visible means, nor rests in any visible end. He who hopes in God trusts God, Whom he never sees, to bring him to the possession of things that are beyond imagination.

We do not hope for what we have. Therefore, to live in hope is to live in poverty, having nothing… The only thing faith and hope do not give us is the clear vision of (God). We are united to Him in darkness, because we have to hope.

Hope empties our hands in order that we may work with them. It shows us that we have something to work for, and teaches us how to work for it.

Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

Hope is the gift that I desperately need, but it is a severe gift. It is not a comfortable, warm and fuzzy naiveté. It is a mature, open-eyed relationship with reality and the One who stands above, behind and inside reality.

As with everything: It ain’t easy, but it’s simple.