Expressing trust in God’s mercy and His promise of eternal life.

The Act of Hope is a Catholic prayer expressing the theological virtue of hope — the confident expectation of God’s mercy, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life, based not on our own merits but on the promises of Jesus Christ and the power of God’s grace.

The Prayer

O my God, relying on Your infinite goodness and promises,
I hope to obtain pardon of my sins,
the help of Your grace,
and life everlasting,
through the merits of Jesus Christ,
my Lord and Redeemer.
Amen.

About This Prayer

Hope is a theological virtue infused by God alongside Faith and Charity at Baptism. The Catechism teaches that Christian hope ‘responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man’ (CCC 1818) and is sustained by the promises of Christ.