Hope is the Divine Vision

Hope is the divine vision. Viktor E Frankl, an Austrian psychologist, wrote a groundbreaking account, in Man’s Search for Meaning, of his survival in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and his discovery of the primary determining trait of the survivors. As he rose above the horrors of his situation, he noted that those with compelling purpose increased their survival chances dramatically. Reflecting on his experiences he was convinced that in life an empowering conviction in the future or a compelling vision is the difference in overcoming any obstacle. The highest level of vision is divine vision. The divines vision of everlasting life and happiness with God forever. There is no more inspiring vision in this world.  Hope is compelling. Hope is future-oriented. Hope is a virtue, an empowering habit of a virtuous centred life. Where there is hope, there is life. Where there is absence of hope there is despair. Vision leads to mission. Divinely inspired vision leads to divinely inspired mission. Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit to inspire the Apostles with divine vision. The result was a mission that continues to conquer the world to this day. As vision inspires at a personal level, vision also inspires at organisational and society level. There is no more determining factor in deciding the future of any organisation or civilisation then the vision it holds of it’s future. The Catholic Church is the longest surviving organisation man has ever seen exist. This did not happen by chance but by purpose.  A key is the divine vision, the hope within the life of the Church. If you want to know the future of any individual, organisation, or country, just examine it’s vision of the future. Hope impacts on our time and our lives. All of us have a vision of the future, we all hope or despair in the future in some manner or form. This vision of the future is key to the choices we make and the way we spend our time. We act differently, we choose differently, we get different results when our vision is of everlasting life rather then earthly life. If our vision is short term, we will make decisions and react to what appears immediately in front of us. We won’t care about eternity because we are stuck in the now. We make short sighted decisions because we have no long sighted vision. We will have an urgency mentality, impulsive, addictive, moodiness, seek instant gratification, limited awareness of consequences, our feelings about ourselves and others will constantly fluctuate.