Hope and Desire

Thomas Aquinas wrote, "hope presupposes desire. Before a thing can be hoped for, it must first be desired." (Shorter Summa, 346)  When we speak of hope, often we express the desire that something good will occur in the future: "I hope I get an 'A' on my test", "I hope my car gets fixed", "I hope I get a job" etc.   President Obama is famous for his "hope" poster and concurrent campaign, wherein we hope for a better future of America. However, Christian hope, as I see it, dwells not only in the future, but in the present as well. If we have the hope for heaven, we believe that, one day, potentially, we may be there, completely united with God. But the other half of hope, the present half, expresses our belief that right now, in every moment of conscious existence, I can make a difference, I can choose to either manifest the object of my desire, or completely deny it. Hope therefore, consists in a desire for the future, and that desire being manifested in the present.

But how is hope for the future possible? Often we hear politicians speak of "progress", which often just means that rich people, or a select group of people, receives more material possessions or political rights. Progress, I argue, is what people rely on when they ultimately do not have hope. Why? Because, as Pope Benedict writes in Spe Salvi #3, "To come to know God--the true God--means to receive hope."  Hope, the true manifestation of desire for the present moment and for the future, exists solely once we have come to know and believe in God.  If we do not believe in God, we must rely solely on "progress"; on material results or more efficient political systems. Once we believe in God, once we being our spiritual journey through mental prayer, the sacraments, and penance, the lens through which we see the world changes.  We do not simply see politics, material possessions, and pleasure (things that are not bad in themselves) as the ends towards which we seek, but as mere means directed towards our own salvation, and the salvation of all men and women.

As our primary desire should be for heaven, so should our hope, how we see the present and the future, direct us towards heaven.  I offer these questions as a means for reflection...
1) Is my primary desire God?
2) What prevents me from desiring God?
3) How can I change, so that I may desire primarily God?