We Need Hope Part III

This is third and final article in my article in my series reflecting on Pope Francis’ Bull of Indiction, “Spes Non Confundit” (Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025, May 9, 2024).  (see “We Need Hope Part I and “We Need Hope Part II”) 

I ended Part II last week in the portion of “Spes Non Confundit” where Pope Francis was discussing various groups of people who need hope.  In paragraph 15, he writes, “I ask with all my heart that hope be granted to the billions of the poor.”  There are billions of poor in the world (An exact number depends on who you consider poor.  How poor is poor?).  There are some people who say the poor are poor because they choose to be that way.  They say the poor are lazy.  Some poor people are lazy.  To those who are lazy, Paul writes, “we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). 

I have lived around poor people.  There may be some that are lazy.  I am not convinced that they consciously choose to be lazy.  I think more often circumstances put them into poverty and they begin to see their poverty as normal.  They don’t realize there is reason to hope and work for something better.  Pope Francis writes, “Let us not forget:  the poor are almost always the victims, not the ones to blame” (“Spes Non Confundit”, 15).

I have seen poor people who are victims of circumstances.  I think of the young mother with little children who stays home to take care of her children without a husband.  She relies on social services to provide for her children.  She may want to work but then who will take care of her children?  I also think of the poor who lack the mental abilities to pursue a higher education.  They find jobs scarce for them.  We do well to ask ourselves how we can help them develop skills and find a job with a fair wage.

The repeated jubilee year in our Jewish roots, as found in Leviticus 25:8-22, gave reason for hope when things were not good.  The jubilee year was a time of restoration.  It was a time to make sure everyone had what was their due. 

Self-made people have worked hard to get where they are.  They deserve praise for their work (as long as they are always honest and never take advantage of other people.)  However, we must realize that even with their hard work, God had given them the gifts they used to advance their lives.

Much of our society puts a lot of emphasis on “self.”  We live in a culture of radical individualism when our Catholic faith calls us to solidarity (see Kenneth Craycraft’s book Citizens Yet Strangers:  Living Authentically Catholic in a Divided America (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor. 2024).  Jesus’ command to love our neighbor is a call to solidarity with one another. 

We must always be mindful of the poor.  Our Catholic Church refers to a fundamental option for the poor.  In this, we are called to always consider the poor in every decision we make.  It is not a call to rob from the rich.  It is a call to treat all people as children of God, for indeed they are.  It is a call to give special attention to the poor who cannot always advance themselves.  We need to give them hope, hope that shows better possibilities ahead for them and how to get there.

Pope Francis next turns to the need for justice.  He writes, “If we really wish to prepare a path to peace in our world, let us commit ourselves to remedying the remote causes of injustice, settling unjust and unpayable debts, and feeding the hungry” (“Spes Non Confundit”, 16).  How many wars happen because of the greed of one individual/group who deprives others of what they need?  How many nations find themselves with so much debt that they could never pay it back?  How many individuals can’t invest in their future because they are in massive debt because of the loss of a job that was not their fault.   We need to provide people with opportunities.  We need to help them become all that God means them to be. 

We need to provide a witness to hope.  Our hope can provide seeds of hope to others (“Spes Non Confundit”, 18).  It can begin with a smile to a stranger.  It includes our own refusal to despair when things are not going well.  This can be hard.  I know because I find it hard when it seems people disagreeing with me or not understanding what I say.  I get dejected.  When I get this way, I fail to be a witness to hope. 

What if the first disciples of Jesus had given up?  We need to always seek to be on God’s path and success will come (see Acts 5:33-42).  We need to always be ready to give reason for our hope.  This isn’t just true for our witness to others.  We need to remind ourselves of the reasons for our hope (see 1 Peter 3:15, and my article, “A Reason For Your Hope”).

We need hope in this world but, ultimately our hope is not from this world.  Our hope is in life everlasting, the life that Jesus reveals to us in his Resurrection.  Jesus makes everlasting life possible for us through his death in this world.  Soon we will celebrate the birth of Jesus.  It is a time of great hope.  Yet, we must remember that it is Jesus’ death that saves us.  His birth gives us hope because it makes it possible for him to die for us. 

As Pope Francis writes, “The death and resurrection of Jesus is the heart of our faith and the basis of our hope” (“Spes Non Confundit”, 20, my emphasis).  It is with this hope that we know that when death comes, life is changed, not ended (see Preface for the Dead I). 

True hope comes not in worldly happiness (see “Spes Non Confundit”, 21).  Hope does not come from the momentary satisfaction that we might find in worldly things.  Hope is from God.  I think here how I have seen some translations of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12a) that say “happy are those….”  Our faith is not about being happy in this world.  That’s why the more common translation of the Beatitudes read “blessed are they…”  The blessing comes from God and there lies our hope.

When we are lost in our sins, there is hope.  God gives us the perfect way to experience hope when we are lost in our sins.  It is the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  When we confess our sins with a truly contrite and repentant heart, Jesus takes away our sins.  Freed from our sins, we once again can experience God’s love.  God’s love is the reason for our hope.

When we refuse to forgive others, we are saying there is no hope for them to change (see “Spes Non Confundit”, 23).  If we think there is no hope for them to change, why should we think we can change?  Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does make a better future possible.  It says there is hope.  Forgiveness is not easy.  That’s part of why the introduction to the Lord’s Prayer at Mass says, “we dare to say.”  It is not easy to say forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

In conclusion, in our society where polarization seems to increase day by day, it is not politics that can bring us true hope.  In Psalm 118:8-9, we read, “Better to take refuge in the Lord than to put one’s trust in mortals.  Better to take refuge in the Lord than to put one’s trust in princes.”

Our hope lies in God.  I will end this series with Pope Francis words, “The storms that buffet us will never prevail, for we are firmly anchored in the hope born of grace” (“Spes Non Confundit”, 25).

Peace,

Fr. Jeff