And we boast in hope of the glory of God. (Rom 5:2b)
February 18, 2025
Hello Everyone –
This week, I wish to continue our reflection on the Jubilee Year unfolding around us as a local church and throughout the world.
In formulating his vision for this special time of grace, Pope Francis writes: “In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often, we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic, and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness.”
The Holy Father names a simple truth that I believe not only exists in the lives of people around us in general but even overshadows the hearts of some of our sisters and brothers in our local faith communities. Maybe you yourself have begun to lose hope because of certain circumstances in your life. Or you look at the world around you and wonder where it is all going to end. What or who will once again enliven the movement of hope that has been lost to you?
Some years ago, a priest friend shared his experience of accompanying a group of students from a Catholic college in the Midwest as they went to Honduras to work in a poor mission church. He recounted that at the end of a week of sleeping on a cement floor with no electricity and running water and after spending the day building a cinderblock house in the hot sun, the students gathered for Mass in the little parish church.
For the most part, the celebration went as the students were used to back home. However, when the priest invited the people to come forward at Communion time — the people all flocked toward the priest — all of them at the same time — singing and dancing as they went — all with their hands outstretched. This was not the quiet, orderly communion procession of the students’ home parishes. The Hondurans approached the altar as if someone was going to place $1 million in their cupped hands — as if a new and different life was awaiting them at the front of that little church.
After Mass, the students told the priest how impressed they were by the faith and spirit of the villagers and of their unique practice at Communion time. But they admitted that they were curious about the “disorderly manner” in which the congregants received Holy Communion.
The priest replied, “Some of these people don’t know where their next meal will come from. Some of them don’t know if their newborn baby will live through the year. Some won’t sleep under a roof tonight. But they do know one thing is sure — Christ is their hope.” The priest continued, “We can live here for many days without food and without shelter — but we cannot live for a single moment without hope.”
“Christ is their hope.” Wow! What a profession of faith!
But Christ is our hope, too. As Pope Francis reminds us: “Hope is born of love and based on the love springing from the pierced heart of Jesus upon the cross.”
So, despite the obstacles that may present themselves or the feelings of doubt that may at times discourage us, you and I become Pilgrims of Hope by virtue of being proclaimers of the life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. We are called to do this not only in words but also in our conduct and the testimony of our lives!
Jesus does not desire disciples who are merely able to repeat memorized formulas. He wants witnesses: people who spread hope, by their way of welcoming, of smiling, of being in the world — but above all, by their ability to love. And it is the power of the Resurrection that makes us capable of loving even when love seems to have lost its motivation.
The Pilgrim of Hope is convinced through the power of Jesus and his Resurrection that no evil is infinite, no night is without end, no woman or man is irredeemably wrong, and no hatred is impervious to love.
Have the courage, then, to live as a Pilgrim of Hope.
As I do for you, please pray for me,
Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee
P. S. Have you remembered to offer the Jubilee Prayer this week? Let’s remain connected as Pilgrims of Hope.
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