Noah's dove, a symbol of hope (St. Mark's Basilica, Venice)
According to the new Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 1817)
St. Alphonsus Liguori, (1696 AD -1787 AD) a lawyer who nevertheless achieved sanctity, thereby inspiring us all with hope, wrote the following of this theological virtue:
As a mother delights in taking her child on her knees, in caressing and feeding him, so does our God delight in treating with love and tenderness those souls who give themselves entirely to Him, and place all their hopes in His goodness and bounty.
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