Education is a shared journey toward the Truth, where we walk together, sowing seeds of hope along the way – even when the path feels arduous and uncertain. A careful reading of today’s reality often evokes feelings of discouragement and helplessness – at times, even despair – when faced with emerging challenges. This uncertainty, combined with disillusionment, is particularly palpable among the youth. Yet, within the younger generation lies a Hope – a potential to transform this complex landscape into a shared journey where all can grow together, learning from one another and enriching each other’s lives.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines, “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.” (no. 1817). It goes on to expound further:
The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity. (no. 1818)
Admittedly, the theological virtue of Hope has largely remained within the domain of theology.
The book has been edited by M.J. Jesu Pudumai Doss, Sahayadas Fernando, Joseph Jeyaraj Swaminathan
Don Bosco Institute of Psychological Services
