Pilgrims of Hope

We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart, and far-sighted vision. The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire; that is why I have chosen as the motto of the Jubilee, Pilgrims of Hope.  (Letter from Pope Francis announcing the Jubilee 2025) 

A Story of Hope 

A priest shared a beautiful story with me recently. He was asked to open his parish to a large group of individuals who were displaced due to the recent floods. He had plenty of room in the parish center, but the building had no power. As the individuals set up their cots in different areas of the room, he noticed two gentlemen who parked themselves right next to an electric outlet and immediately plugged in their phones.

The priest approached them and jokingly said, “If you have found a way to charge your phones, you must definitely be connected to a higher power than I am.”

One of the men smiled and said, “Once power is restored, guess who will be the first to charge his phone?”

A Life with No Hope

I guess it depends on where we place our hope. Do we put our hopes in things that are passing, or do we place our trust in God? I remember watching a group of acrobats in the circus, trusting in each other before every jump. They trained and prepared, yet … at the bottom of it all was a safety net. That is, for me, an image of my trust in God.  

Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Romans 5:5)

The things we worry about, the things we are afraid of — they all dissipate when we truly think about how much God loves each and every one of us.   

What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37-39)

Question: Do We Believe   

Are we convinced, deep in our very core, of our identity as children of God? It is deeply grounded in this confidence that we can wait patiently for God. I do not know what the men in the parish center did while waiting for the power to be restored. Maybe they played cards or took a nap. I sincerely doubt they climbed the electric pole outside to fix the problem themselves.

They knew the electric company was aware of their situation, and someone would eventually come. They did all that they could and a little bit more. They were ready with their plugged-in phones. 

Perhaps we can pray this year with that kind of hope. Trusting that God knows our needs, let us wait peacefully while remaining “plugged in” in our prayer. May He find us ready, attentive, and filled with faith, hope, and love. 

A Holy Year of Hope

The Holy Father closes his Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee of 2025 with these words: 

The coming Jubilee will thus be a Holy Year marked by the hope that does not fade, our hope in God. May it help us to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation. May the witness of believers be for our world a leaven of authentic hope, a harbinger of new heavens and a new earth (cf. 2 Pet 3:13), where men and women will dwell in justice and harmony, in joyful expectation of the fulfilment of the Lord’s promises. 

Let us even now be drawn to this hope! Through our witness, may hope spread to all those who anxiously seek it. May the way we live our lives say to them in so many words: “Hope in the Lord! Hold firm, take heart and hope in the Lord!” (Ps 27:14). May the power of hope fill our days, as we await with confidence the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and glory, now and forever. (Spes non confundit - Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025) 

Copyright 2025 Ivonne J. Hernandez
Images: (bottom) The Vatican via the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, all rights reserved; all others Canva

This article was first published in the Elisheba Blog. It is published here with permission.