The Thomistic Institute Hope: The Pilgrim's Virtue | Prof. Michael Wahl
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Apr 21, 2025 
Michael Wahl, Assistant Professor of Theology at Providence College, delves into the profound nature of hope as a key virtue in Christianity. He draws on St. Thomas Aquinas to highlight hope's distinction from despair and presumption, emphasizing its necessity for moral balance. Wahl challenges the notion that hope requires withdrawal from the world, instead advocating for a harmonious engagement with earthly aspirations. He illustrates how life's temporary goods serve as aids on our spiritual journey, encouraging listeners to embrace hope as a transformative guiding force.
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Job Hunt Illustrates Natural Hope
- Job hunting illustrates natural hope: desiring a future good that's difficult yet possible.
- This hopeful attitude motivates action despite uncertainty and competition for the job.
Virtuous Training of Hope
- Hope as a passion is morally ambivalent; it requires virtues like magnanimity and humility to align with reason.
- Magnanimity stretches us toward greatness; humility tempers aspirations with realistic self-knowledge.
Hope as Theological Virtue
- Theological hope differs as a divine virtue with God as its object and is infused by God.
- Hope relates the human person to God as the ultimate good not yet possessed, linking hope to eternal happiness.