As we prayerfully plan programming for the upcoming year at The Basilica, we have been drawn to the theme of Hope. Pope Benedict XVI offered a powerful and provocative Encyclical Letter “Spe Salvi” (Saved in Hope) in 2007. This Letter could have been written today, articulating the many conflicts, fears, and divisions that can cloud our vision and shape our attitude and community. He gets to the heart of the question: How does faith and hope not only form our lives but transform our communities?
Rooted in God’s never-ending, intimate love, Pope Benedict XVI challenges the faithful to see our lives as simultaneously rooted in limitations of the present and seeing “even now something of the reality we are waiting for.” Indeed, hope held for healing, forgiveness, justice, and love can transform the present. Hope and faith “draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a ‘not yet.’ The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future.”
Hope offers a radical new way to live through whatever experience life offers. Through conflict, fear, grief, or loss, we are individually and collectively transformed as we imperfectly, yet prayerfully, seek to live in love.
In accordance with an ancient tradition, Pope Francis will proclaim a Jubilee Year in 2025. The central message of the Jubilee will be Hope. He reminds us, “Christian hope does not deceive or disappoint because it is grounded in the certainty that nothing and no one may ever separate us from God’s love.”
Patience is crucial. Courage is needed. Pope Francis reminds us “we are…called to discover hope in the signs of the times that the Lord gives us.” He challenges us: “The first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in our world, which once more finds itself immersed in the tragedy of war.” He goes on to name the needs of prisoners, the sick, the young, migrants, the elderly, the homeless and those who are most vulnerable, along with “the billons of the poor who lack the essentials of life.”
Pope Francis states, “Hope, together with faith and charity, makes up the triptych of the ‘theological virtues’ that expresses the heart of Christian Life.” Pope Bendict resonates, stating “Love of God leads to participation in the justice and generosity of God towards others. Loving God requires an interior freedom from all possessions and all material goods: the love of God is revealed in responsivity for others.”
As we live through the summer of 2024, and anticipate the many challenges we face together, we are blessed with the re-centering and re-calibrating truth of our faith: God is present—intimately with us through it all. There is, indeed, a mystical reality inherent in the relational love of God. The Spirit unites us in radical hospitality and solidarity with all people, of all time. Even in times of conflict, fear, and failure, Pope Benedict reminds us, “At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy.”
Let us join together, over the months ahead, as we unpack and embrace Hope!
Janice Andersen
Director of Christian Life