ABOUT HOPE DURING THE JUBILEE YEAR

Hope is one of the Big Three – the theological virtues. Like all virtues, hope is a gift from God, given  by the Holy Spirit. It is not a vague feeling. It is a confident trust in God’s promise that salvation is possible.

God’s promise is made possible through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hope means that we can desire the Kingdom of Heaven and obtain it as our happiness, placing our trust that it’s really possible because of  Christ’s merits and relying on the help of the Holy Spirit.

It’s the same word, but not the same meaning, when we say something like, “I hope it doesn’t rain on our barbecue” or “I hope {fill in a team name} will win.

As a virtue, hope is closely connected to the virtue of faith. God has a plan; God made us; God has a part for us in His plan; God promised us that somehow, “all things work together for good in Jesus Christ”. God keeps His promises. In faith, we believe all those things.

Hope is anchored in the faithfulness of God, and in His presence in our Church through the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. His presence sustains us here on earth during our pilgrimage. In his letter to the church in Rome, Saint Paul writes, “in hope we were saved”.

Practicing this virtue can actually help to make salvation real for us. Hope flourishes in suffering and trial. Hope can bring peace to the individual, and spread that peace to the family, to the community, and to the world. Some people lose hope – or give it away, replacing hope with despair. Those people start to believe that God doesn’t care for them, or that God stopped caring for them, maybe because of serious sin on their part. Again, in the letter to the Church in Rome, Saint Paul addresses that directly,  “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?” All those powers cannot make God stop loving us. Even if we don’t believe it, or stop believing it, God goes on loving us. We can stop loving God; He won’t stop loving us

We look to the saints as models of hope — men and women who endured hardship with unwavering trust in God. They are models and even more; they are proof that we have a reason for hope. They made it; we can make it. These men and women were here before us, they shared all the realities of life here on Earth, and they made it to eternal life with God. They made it; we can make it. Through the Communion of Saints they can help us if we let them.

The Resurrection of Christ assures us that death is not the end, and that suffering, endured in union with Christ, has a value for us as we look for own salvation. Again Saint Paul tells the people of the Church in Rome, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer”. With hope there is a reason. Without hope, it makes no sense at all to be patient and constant.

We nurture hope in ourselves through prayer, the sacraments, sacred Scripture, and participation in the life of the Church. The communion of saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and our parish communities all strengthen us in hope. When we perform works of charity and of mercy, they are visible signs of the hope we profess, echoing Christ’s love in the world. They are also examples for others to do likewise.

Our hope reaches its fulfillment at the end of our life in eternal communion with God.

We live and act in the present time with our eyes fixed on the future, fixed on life with Christ, longing for the day when “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. This hope inspires us to live with humility, generosity, and always deeper trust in Divine Providence.

Catholic hope is an unwavering light, rooted in Christ, nourished by the sacraments, and sustained by the prayers of the Church. It empowers us to face life’s challenges, to love others with Christ’s heart, and to witness for the world the unfailing promise of God’s mercy and eternal life.

AN ACT OF HOPE:

O my God, relying on Your almighty power and infinite mercy 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.