Hope in Ridgway, Illinois

Last night a tornado destroyed most of St. Joseph church in Ridgway, Illinois, in the Diocese of Belleville, yet hope remains:

Your eyes do not deceive you.  If you look through the rubble you can see the altar still intact and the tabernacle still present.

The storm system killed ten people yesterday in southern Illinois.  May they rest in peace.

Please keep all those whose lives have been so terribly shaken in your prayers, that the presence of the Eucharistic King in their midst will strengthen them for the days ahead.

Update:

Here's a picture of the church from a different angle:

The priest, thanks be to God, is unharmed.

Pope Addresses Youth of the World

This may be a little late, but the Holy Father's Message for World Youth Day 2009 (this past Palm Sunday) is too good not to post:

“We have set our hope on the living God” (1 Tim 4:10)

My dear friends,

Next Palm Sunday we shall celebrate the twenty-fourth World Youth Day at the diocesan level. As we prepare for this annual event, I recall with deep gratitude to the Lord the meeting held in Sydney in July last year. It was a most memorable encounter, during which the Holy Spirit renewed the lives of countless young people who had come together from all over the world [you can say that again!]. The joy of celebration and spiritual enthusiasm experienced during those few days was an eloquent sign of the presence of the Spirit of Christ. Now we are journeying towards the international gathering due to take place in Madrid in 2011, which will have as its theme the words of the Apostle Paul: “Rooted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (cf. Col 2:7). As we look forward to that global youth meeting, let us undertake a path of preparation together. We take as our text for the year 2009 a saying of Saint Paul: “We have set our hope on the living God” (1 Tim 4:10), while in 2010 we will reflect on the question put to Jesus by the rich young man: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mk 10:17)

Youth, a time of hope

In Sydney, our attention was focussed upon what the Holy Spirit is saying to believers today, and in particular to you, my dear young people. During the closing Mass, I urged you to let yourselves be shaped by him in order to be messengers of divine love, capable of building a future of hope for all humanity [This message really, it seems to me, is at the heart of his entire pontificate]. The question of hope is truly central to our lives as human beings and our mission as Christians, especially in these times. We are all aware of the need for hope, not just any kind of hope, but a firm and reliable hope, as I wanted to emphasize in the Encyclical Spe Salvi. Youth is a special time of hope because it looks to the future with a whole range of expectations. When we are young we cherish ideals, dreams and plans. Youth is the time when decisive choices concerning the rest of our lives come to fruition. Perhaps this is why it is the time of life when fundamental questions assert themselves strongly: Why am I here on earth? What is the meaning of life? What will my life be like? And again: How can I attain happiness? Why is there suffering, illness and death? What lies beyond death? These are questions that become insistent when we are faced with obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable: difficulties with studies, unemployment, family arguments, crises in friendships or in building good loving relationships, illness or disability, lack of adequate resources as a result of the present widespread economic and social crisis. We then ask ourselves: where can I obtain and how can I keep alive the flame of hope burning in my heart? [How can anyone really believe that this Pope doesn't get it? He does. He understands humanity far better than many of us, and he is not afraid to address the difficult and painful questions of life that so many others do not touch. Too many youth ministers today are content with "fluff;" not Pope Benedict.]

In search of “the great hope”

Experience shows that personal qualities and material goods are not enough to guarantee the hope which the human spirit is constantly seeking. As I wrote in the Encyclical Spe Salvi, politics, science, technology, economics and all other material resources are not of themselves sufficient to provide the great hope to which we all aspire. This hope “can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain” (no. 31). This is why one of the main consequences of ignoring God is the evident loss of direction that marks our societies, resulting in loneliness and violence, discontent and loss of confidence that can often lead to despair. The word of God issues a warning that is loud and clear: “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes” (Jer 17:5-6).

The crisis of hope is more likely to affect the younger generations. [Notice that the Holy Father clearly sets forth the danger here for the youth, but in what is to come he offers the solution to the dilemna. Only a person with authentic love for the youth would lay out the danger so clearly.] In socio-cultural environments with few certainties, values or firm points of reference, they find themselves facing difficulties that seem beyond their strength. My dear young friends, I have in mind so many of your contemporaries who have been wounded by life. They often suffer from personal immaturity caused by dysfunctional family situations, by permissive and libertarian elements in their education, and by difficult and traumatic experience. For some – unfortunately a significant number – the almost unavoidable way out involves an alienating escape into dangerous and violent behaviour, dependence on drugs and alcohol, and many other such traps for the unwary. Yet, even for those who find themselves in difficult situations, having been led astray by bad role models, the desire for true love and authentic happiness is not extinguished [Indeed, it is usually this desire for true love and authentic happiness that leads them astray. Thinking they will find love and happiness in these things, they never do. They fall for the lies that others tell them.]. But how can we speak of this hope to those young people? We know that it is in God alone that a human person finds true fulfilment [Here, then, lies the answer to the difficulty]. The main task for us all is that of a new evangelization aimed at helping younger generations to rediscover the true face of God, who is Love. To you young people, who are in search of a firm hope, I address the very words that Saint Paul wrote to the persecuted Christians in Rome at that time: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13). During this Jubilee Year dedicated to the Apostle of the Gentiles on the occasion of the two thousandth anniversary of his birth, let us learn from him how to become credible witnesses of Christian hope.

Saint Paul, witness of hope

When Paul found himself immersed in difficulties and trials of various kinds, he wrote to his faithful disciple Timothy: “We have set our hope on the living God” (1 Tim 4:10). How did this hope take root in him? In order to answer that question we must go back to his encounter with the Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. At that time, Saul was a young person like you in his early twenties, a follower of the Law of Moses and determined to fight with every means, and even to kill those he regarded as God’s enemies (cf. Acts 9:1). While on his way to Damascus to arrest the followers of Christ, he was blinded by a mysterious light and he heard himself called by name: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He fell to the ground, and asked: “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:3-5). After that encounter, Paul’s life changed radically. He received Baptism and became an Apostle of the Gospel. On the road to Damascus, he was inwardly transformed by the Divine Love he had met in the person of Jesus Christ. He would later write: “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). From being a persecutor, he became a witness and a missionary. He founded Christian communities in Asia Minor and Greece, and travelled thousands of miles amid all kinds of perils, culminating in his martyrdom in Rome. All this for love of Christ. [He will use the Apostle to the Gentiles as a model for the youth.]

The great hope is in Christ

For Paul, hope is not simply an ideal or sentiment, but a living person: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Profoundly imbued with this certainty, he could write to Timothy: “We have set our hope on the living God” (1 Tim 4:10). The “living God” is the Risen Christ present in our world. He is the true hope: the Christ who lives with us and in us and who calls us to share in his eternal life. If we are not alone, if he is with us, even more, if he is our present and our future, why be afraid? A Christian’s hope is therefore to desire “the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1817).

The way towards the great hope

Just as he once encountered the young Paul, Jesus also wants to encounter each one of you, my dear young people. Indeed, even before we desire it, such an encounter is ardently desired by Jesus Christ. But perhaps some of you might ask me: How can I meet him today? Or rather, in what way does he approach me? The Church teaches us that the desire to encounter the Lord is already a fruit of his grace. When we express our faith in prayer, we find him even in times of darkness because he offers himself to us. Persevering prayer opens the heart to receive him, as Saint Augustine explains: “Our Lord and God … wants our desire to be exercised in prayer, thus enabling us to grasp what he is preparing to give” (Letter 130:8,17). Prayer is the gift of the Spirit that makes us men and women of hope, and our prayer keeps the world open to God (cf. Spe Salvi, 34).

Make space for prayer in your lives! To pray alone is good, although it is even more beautiful and fruitful to pray together, because the Lord assured us he would be present wherever two or three are gathered in his name (cf. Mt 18:20). There are many ways to become acquainted with him. There are experiences, groups and movements, encounters and courses in which to learn to pray and thus grow in the experience of faith. Take part in your parish liturgies and be abundantly nourished by the word of God and your active participation in the Sacraments. As you know, the summit and centre of the life and mission of every believer and every Christian community is the Eucharist, the sacrament of salvation in which Christ becomes present and gives his Body and Blood as spiritual food for eternal life. A truly ineffable mystery! It is around the Eucharist that the Church comes to birth and grows – that great family of Christians which we enter through Baptism, and in which we are constantly renewed through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The baptised, through Confirmation, are then confirmed in the Holy Spirit so as to live as authentic friends and witnesses of Christ. The Sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony enable them to accomplish their apostolic duties in the Church and in the world. Finally, the Sacrament of the Sick grants us an experience of divine consolation in illness and suffering.

Acting in accordance with Christian hope

If you find your sustenance in Christ, my dear young people, and if you live profoundly in him as did the Apostle Paul, you will not be able to resist speaking about him and making him known and loved by many of your friends and contemporaries. Be his faithful disciples, and in that way you will be able to help form Christian communities that are filled with love, like those described in the Acts of the Apostles. The Church depends on you for this demanding mission. [Remember his Message for the World Communications Day in which he entrusted the use of the new media to the youth to proclaim the Gospel.] Do not be discouraged by the difficulties and trials you encounter. Be patient and persevering so as to overcome the natural youthful tendency to rush ahead and to want everything immediately.

My dear friends, follow the example of Paul and be witnesses to the Risen Christ! Make Christ known, among your own age group and beyond, to those who are in search of “the great hope” that would give meaning to their lives. If Jesus has become your hope, communicate this to others with your joy and your spiritual, apostolic and social engagement. Let Christ dwell within you, and having placed all your faith and trust in him, spread this hope around you. Make choices that demonstrate your faith. Show that you understand the risks of idolizing money, material goods, career and success, and do not allow yourselves to be attracted by these false illusions. Do not yield to the rationale of selfish interests. Cultivate love of neighbour and try to put yourselves and your human talents and professional abilities at the service of the common good and of truth, always prepared to “make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15). True Christians are never sad, even if they have to face trials of various kinds, because the presence of Jesus is the secret of their joy and peace.

Mary, Mother of hope

May Saint Paul be your example on this path of apostolic life. He nourished his life of constant faith and hope by looking to Abraham, of whom he wrote in the Letter to the Romans: “Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become the father of many nations” (Rom 4:18). Following in the footsteps of the people of hope – composed of prophets and saints of every age – we continue to advance towards the fulfilment of the Kingdom, and on this spiritual path we are accompanied by the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope. She who incarnated the hope of Israel, who gave the world its Saviour, and who remained at the foot of the Cross with steadfast hope, is our model and our support. Most of all, Mary intercedes for us and leads us through the darkness of our trials to the radiant dawn of an encounter with the Risen Christ. I would like to conclude this message, my dear young friends, with a beautiful and well-known prayer by Saint Bernard that was inspired by one of Mary’s titles, Stella Maris, Star of the Sea: “You who amid the constant upheavals of this life find yourself more often tossed about by storms than standing on firm ground, do not turn your eyes from the brightness of this Star, if you would not be overwhelmed by boisterous waves. If the winds of temptations rise, if you fall among the rocks of tribulations, look up at the Star, call on Mary … In dangers, in distress, in perplexities, think on Mary, call on Mary … Following her, you will never go astray; when you implore her aid, you will never yield to despair; thinking on her, you will not err; under her patronage you will never wander; beneath her protection you will not fear; she being your guide, you will not weary; with her assistance, you will arrive safely in the port” (Homilies in Praise of the Virgin Mother, 2:17).

Mary, Star of the Sea, we ask you to guide the young people of the whole world to an encounter with your Divine Son Jesus. Be the celestial guardian of their fidelity to the Gospel and of their hope.

Dear young friends, be assured that I remember all of you every day in my prayers. I give my heartfelt blessing to you and to all who are dear to you.

From the Vatican, 22 February 2009

BENEDICTVS PP. XVI

Spe salvi, 3 (and Saint Josephine Bakhita)

Up to now we have seen that, as Saint Paul says, “in hope we were saved” (Romans 8:24). We have further seen that faith and hope are intimately connected and even interchangeable (Spe salvi, 2). We also saw that the present only becomes livable if we can be certain of good in the future.

This sort of talk is deeply theological and philosophical and, as such, has the tendency to leave many heads spinning in a daze of confusion, which is part of the intellectual and spiritual excitement this encyclical can generate (for those of us who like this sort of thing).

With all that we have done, we have yet to answer the question, “What is our hope?” which might well account for the confusion. We have, though, asked the question, and a very good question it is:

[W]hat sort of hope could ever justify the statement that, on the basis of that hope and simply because it exists, we are redeemed? And what sort of certainty is involved here (Spe salvi, 1)?

In the third paragraph Pope Benedict XVI seeks to answer the question by way of example.

He sought to do much the same thing in his first encyclical, Deus caritas est, when he turned briefly first to the life of Saint Lawrence [c. 225-258], one of the seven deacons of Rome, in whom charity “found a vivid expression” (23). Next he turned to the example of the emperor Julian the Apostate [331-363] who, though not impressed with the Christian faith, was impressed with “the Church’s charitable activity” (24). Through these two (seemingly contradictory) figures the Holy Father proceeded to demonstrate the importance of works of charity for the Christian.

In the present encyclical, he uses the example of Saint Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947) to begin answering the question, “in what does hope consist which, as hope, is ‘redemption’” (3)? We recall here that, “redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, a trustworthy hope” (Spe salvi, 1). For what do we hope? How can this hope be redemption?

The Apostle Paul gives us the answer to this question when he writes to the Christians of Ephesus. He writes, as we have previously seen,

Therefore, remember that at one time you, Gentiles in the flesh … were at that time without Christ, alienated from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world” (2:11-12).

To be without Christ is to be without hope; to be with Christ, then, is to have hope.

“We who have always lived with the concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it,” writes the Holy Father, “have almost ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with God” (Spe salvi, 3). It takes just a few moments at Mass on Sunday to see that the Pontiff is very much correct in this observation. We are introduced to our hope at a young age, it is everywhere around us, yet only rarely do we ever take any notice of it. We too often grow complacent in our faith, in our hope, and hence our knowledge of God begins to fade.

Pope Benedict XVI understands that these discussions are a bit cerebral and so he says, “the example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time” (Spe salvi, 3). He then offers a moving brief biography of the holy woman, Josephine Bakhita, that is worth quoting in full:

She was born around 1869—she herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life. Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father's right hand”. Now she had “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world—without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her “Paron”. On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice. On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter's lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had “redeemed” her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.

This woman with 144 scars came to know her true Master, her true Paron, Jesus Christ, who, many centuries earlier, willingly accepted flogging and death for her. She came to know the One who is Good and so she received hope, she who, it would seem, had little reason to hope.

The words of Saint Paul were true for her: with God she was with hope. And because she was with hope she could say, “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me – I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Would that each of us could echo these words!

Josephine, through her hope, realized that “the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey” (Spe salvi, 1).

She new her goal was Jesus Christ; she knew that she could be sure of this goal because Christ “had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her ‘at the Father’s right hand’” (Spe salvi, 3); she knew that this goal was certainly great enough because she had truly been redeemed, bought back, “no longer a slave, but a free child of God” (Spe salvi, 3).

We, too, have been redeemed, bought back, and so we are with hope: Christ Jesus.

Spe salvi, 2

After his introductory paragraph to the encyclical Spe salvi, Pope Benedict XVI turns to examine hope itself as found in the Scriptures and notes that hope is often used interchangeably with faith in the writings of the New Testament.

The author of the epistle to the Hebrews writes, saying,

[L]et us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful… (10:22-23).

In ordinary parlance, one does not confess hope but faith, yet the sacred writer uses the words one for the other.

Turning to the first letter of Peter, we find the same interchangeability:

Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence (3:15).

Again, one does not ordinarily seek to defend a hope but one would certainly seek to defend faith.

Saint Paul would even go so far as to write to the Ephesians, reminding them that before their faith in Christ Jesus “you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (2:12).

We see, then, that the “assurance of faith” is the “confession of our hope” “that is in you”, without which we are “without God in the world”. Faith and hope are very closely related, indeed.

Referring to the lives of the pagans, Paul “knew they had had other gods, he knew they had had a religion, but their gods proved questionable, and no hope emerged from their contradictory myths” (Spe salvi, 2).

Here, then, is one of the great distinguishing factors of Christianity from the rest of the religions of world: Christianity produces hope for the future because Christ has been found faithful and trustworthy. Christ Jesus has not proved “questionable” but has proved fully reliable for the words he spoke before his crucifixion were fulfilled afterwards: “the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day” (Matthew 20:19)

The Holy Father reminds us that, “notwithstanding their gods, they were ‘without God’ and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future” (Spe salvi, 2).

Considering the darkness of the world of the pagans resulting from their lack of hope, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep [e.g., dead], that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13).

For the pagans, death was, at worst, simply the end of existence; at best, it was the beginning of a meaningless, eternal, existence. Consequently, life had little meaning and we find that as a result many of the pagans were turning to the mystery cults in the years surrounding the life of Christ. We are, today, experiencing an increase of these same sentiments.

This is not so with Christianity; in Christianity, life certainly has meaning and purpose. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christian hope “leads towards a goal … great enough to justify the effort of the journey” (Spe salvi, 1). Christians may not know “the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness” (Spe salvi, 2).

Having said this, His Holiness turns from the future life to that of the present: “Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well” (Spe salvi, 2).

Life can only truly be fully lived if the future is known to be positive, if it is known to be good. If the future is good then we have reason to live in the present; if the future is bleak, if it is negative, there is no purpose, no meaning, to this present life. Christian hope knows the joy of the promised resurrection of the dead and union with Christ, hence the present life, “even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted” (Spe salvi, 1).

It is precisely because the message of the Gospel, the hope that is given, allows believers to live the present life that the message of Christianity is “not only ‘informative’ but ‘performative’” (Spe salvi, 2).

The proclamation of the Gospel is never simply about the passing on of information about Jesus Christ or of his Church. The proclamation of the Gospel must always be “performative” in that “it makes things happen and is life-changing” (Spe salvi, 2). Because “redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope” (Spe salvi, 1), “the dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open” (Spe salvi, 2). This hope given to the Christian is such that “on the basis of that hope and simply because it exists, we are redeemed” (Spe salvi, 1).

This is a truth of the faith well worth pondering that “in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:24). Because of this hope, because of this redemption, “the one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life” (Spe salvi, 2).

In the next paragraph we will take at look at the difference found in this new life granted through hope.

The day has come

... and the long awaited second Encyclical of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, Spe salvi, has been presented and is already available in English translation. Praised be Jesus Christ!

Ratzinger on hope

The following passages are taken from Pope Benedict XVI, The Yes of Jesus Christ: Exercises in Faith, Hope and Love (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1991). They may be a hint of what we can expect to find on the morrow.

“I think one can only understand the true nature of Christian hope and can only live it afresh if one sees through for what they are its imitations and distortions [ideological optimism] that are trying to foist themselves on to it. The greatness and the reasonableness of Christian hope come to light again only if we liberate ourselves from the pinchbeck allure of their secular imitations” (p. 44).

“The goal of Christian hope is the kingdom of God, that is the union of the world and man with God through an act of divine power and love” (p. 46).

“[T]he justification of Christian hope is the incarnation of God’s word and love in Jesus Christ” (p. 47).

“The aim of Christian hope, by contrast, is a gift, the gift of love, which is given us beyond all our activity: to vouch for the fact that this thing that we cannot control or compel and that is yet the most important thing of all for human beings does exist, and that we are not clutching at thin air in waiting insatiably for it, we have the interventions of God’s love in history, most powerfully in the figure of Jesus Christ in whom God’s love encounters us in person” (p. 47).

“The hope of faith, on the other hand, reveals to us the true future beyond death, and it is only in this way that the real instances of progress that do exist become a future for us, for me, for every individual” (p. 49).

“Jeremiah the pessimist showed himself to be the true bearer of hope. For the others everything had necessarily to have come to an end with this defeat: for him everything at this moment was beginning anew. God is never defeated, and his promises do not collapse in human defeats: indeed, they become greater, as love grows to the extent that the beloved has need of it” (p. 51-52).

“The theory put forward by many scholars that all great prophets have been prophets of doom is false. But it is correct that their genuinely theological hope did not coincide with superficial optimism and that, as bearers of true hope, these great figures were at the same time relentless critics of current parodies of hope” (p. 52-53).

“The sermon on the mount is a word of hope. In fellowship with Jesus what is impossible becomes possible: the camel goes through the eye of a needle (Mark 10:25). In being one with him we become capable too of fellowship with God and thus of conclusive salvation. To the extent that we belong to Jesus his qualities are realized in us too – the beatitudes, the perfection of the Father” (p. 63-64).

“To hope is to fly, said Bonaventure: hope demands of us a radical commitment…. The supernatural, the great promise, does not push nature to one side. Quite the contrary: it calls forth the commitment of all our energies for the complete opening up of our being, for the unfolding of all its possibilities” (p. 65).

“The concluding formula of liturgical prayers, ‘through Christ our Lord,’ corresponds to the fact that Christ is realized hope, the anchor of our hoping” (p. 66).

“Those who despair do not pray any more because they no longer hope: those who are sure of themselves and their own power do not pray because they rely only on themselves. Those who pray hope in a goodness and in a power that transcend their own capabilities. Prayer is hope in execution” (p. 66-67).

“Learning to pray is learning to hope and thus learning to love” (p. 68).

“Hope is … the certainty that I shall receive that great love that is indestructible and that I am already loved with this love here and now” (p. 70).

“Christian tradition is aware of two attitudes that are fundamentally opposed to hope: despair and presumption” (p. 70).

Ratzinger's "On Hope"

A good friend from college and a reader of the blog kindly sent word that Communio has linked to an article by Joseph Ratzinger from 1985 entitled, "On Hope." Do have a look, and a read.

Spe salvi pondering

Many are anxiously awaiting the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI's second Encyclical letter Spe salvi (Saved by hope)to be presented Friday at 11:30 a.m. Rome time. I, too, am excitedly wondering about this, and am hoping - perhaps against hope - that the English tranlsation will be released at the time of presentation.

Since his election to the See of Peter, His Holiness has frequently spoken about hope in his homilies, Wednesday audiences and Angelus addresses. I've collected a few of these words at Beggar for Love, a sort of archive of some of the words of the current Pontiff. You might want to take a look.

I will try later today or tomorrow to take a look through some of then-Cardinal Ratzinger's writings looking for what he says about hope in them.