Hope in the Lord

I have a picture of Saint John Paul II above my desk. It is a pencil sketch that a priest gave to me many years ago. When I read the book Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II by George Weigel back in 1999 my perspective on life, joy, and hope changed forever. 

A Papal Lesson on Hope and Joy 

Have you ever encountered someone who has survived a great tragedy? Yet, when you meet that person, you would never know it — the glint in their eye, the joy they find in life. When I read about his early life, and all the losses he endured as a child, then a teen, then as a young adult — but experienced his joy as my pope, it made an indelible imprint on my heart. 

I was mourning the loss of someone I loved so much: a nephew, like a little brother to me, had died in a car accident. There was the “before” and the “after,” when Joe was with us — and then gone. It seemed unbearable watching my sister grieve the loss of her oldest son, and my parents grieving their firstborn grandchild.   

Then I read about the life of Karol Józef Wojtyła growing up in Poland — losing his country first to Nazi occupation and then to Russia after WWII. If you have not read this book—it is a must! Born in 1920, Wojtyła was 18 years old in 1938 at the height of the Nazi onslaught in Europe. As Pope John Paul II commented, his beloved Poland lost the war twice: first occupied by the Nazis, then occupied by Russia.  

A Model of Hope in All Circumstances 

Regardless of the world’s mess and ugliness, his constant companion was the hope that God would not abandon his people. Saint John Paul II modeled for me hope in all circumstances. His losses and hardships were so much deeper than mine. Here I found hope. Hope grounded in the certainty that God would not abandon any of us during our time of mourning — nor Joe in his death.  

I vividly remember reading this book curled up on a couch while pregnant with my second child. We were deep into so much loss: first Joe, then my Dad was diagnosed and died of cancer the next year, and in this third year of marriage, we had a new ALS diagnosis for my husband’s brother at 38, and a terminal diagnosis for a brother-in-law who was 42 and lived up the street with two children.  

Mike and I focused on finding joy with our small children and hope in God’s unconditional love. We quickly realized we were being called to be witnesses to hope ourselves as we watched our family struggle in these trials and deaths. Not only did we cling to our faith, but we became unapologetic in our faith and our love of Jesus and the sacraments. While I took solace in the Rosary, Michael could often be found in the Adoration chapel for the 3:00 AM – 4:00 AM timeslot.  

Today, my head is spinning with all the negative news in the world — war, famine, persecution. The human condition remains the same. At this time, in this place, Pope Leo and Saint John Paul II are calling to each of us to be witnesses to hope!   

I choose to engage with others with a glint in my eye and joy in my step, like my beloved Papa, Saint John Paul II. For my hope is not in this world, but in the Lord!  

They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings;
They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

For the Jubilee of Hope, our writers reflect on prayer as a source of hope in their lives.

Copyright 2025 Margaret Dwyer Hogan
Images: Holy Cross Family Ministries