If I do not hope in His love for me, I will never really know Christ. I hear of Him by faith. But I do not achieve the contact that knows Him, and thereby knows the Father in Him, until my faith in Him is completed by hope and charity: hope that grasps His love for me and charity that pays Him the return of love I owe.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island, Sentences on Hope
Faith without hope
is light without sight
warmth too far away to feel
music that can’t be heard
over the dry, drafty doctrine
that being correct is a higher calling
than simply being loved.
dw
p.s. I’ve written about this before with similar sentiment. I wish I had learned this lesson much earlier in my life.
Copyright © 2019, becomingflame.com
becoming flame 
5 replies on “Hope completes Faith”
Profound. Thank you, DW for sharing Thomas Merton. God’s blessings.
–Pam
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Pam, Merry Christmas to you and yours! I hope all is well with you.
A few weeks back I promised to recommend another Flannery O’Conner story…finally following up on that: one of my favorites is “Revelation”.
Grace and peace to you…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the recommendation, DW. I will be reading up…
LikeLike
Happy New Year, DW! May God continue to bless you in 2020. Hoping for more uplifting post on Becoming the Flame.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy New Year to you, Pam! Thank you so much for your friendship and encouragement, a blessing to me. Grace and peace to you in 2020; I look forward to continuing to enjoy and learn from your posts!
LikeLiked by 1 person