The world yearns for the gift of HOPE

Hope in our Contemporary world

In our modern Western society, Hope is often confused with positive thinking. But Christian hope is radically different from a purely secular, optimistic mindset. Hope does not focus on material outcomes such as our job, the money we have or our health.  The truly great thing about Hope for Christians is that it does not have to be grounded in any way in things going well for us.

Christian Hope focuses on getting to heaven and is rooted in the trust that God will give us everything we need to get there. "Heaven" in this context means living in the eternal presence of God.

Placing our hopes in scientific progress, financial security, political ideologies or any one of the multitude of philosophies of self-help and personal advancement available today is a pathway to failure.  These things can displace true Hope. They delude us, offering promises they cannot bring to fruition. The are lies dressed up as realities.  Biblical hope in the Kingdom of God has been displaced by hope in the kingdom of man, the hope of a better world (Benedict) but worldly solutions can never fully satisfy the human heart. Benedict continues, man has need of a hope that goes further. It becomes clear that only something infinite will suffice for him, something that will always be more than he can ever attain.

It is only Hope in God that endures; only divine Hope that can transform our world and our daily lives. Divine Hope takes in the entirety of our human existence and bestows upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain.

How to Regain Hope

Despair is directly opposed to Hope. It is the belief that God’s promises do not apply to us, that we are beyond his mercy. It holds that we can frustrate the divine will by our efforts, that sin diminishes the love God seeks to pour out upon us.  Despair, however, is never the final word.

When we find ourselves struggling to find Hope’s power at work in our lives, reaffirming our faith is the first step to restoring Hope. While our faith in God remains alive, our Hope is strong.  This is because we live with God as our Creator, the God who wishes what is good for us. He desires for us to live in Joy and enduring Peace. He desires that we live in union with him. As long as we keep our lives God-oriented, modelled on the life and witness of Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit, we will know Hope.  Faith reassures us of who God is, that he loves us, and knowing these things ensures that we have the graces needed to sustain us in the vicissitudes of life. 

Hope and the Divine Virtues

Hope is deeply connected to the other two theological virtues, faith and charity. Like the other theological virtues, Hope is infused at baptism, increased in the sacraments, and revitalised with our confession of sin and repentance.

Hope is also linked to virtues such as patience, fortitude and charity, as well as a particular gift of the Holy Spirit, “fear of the Lord,” which is the first stage of wisdom. The “fear of the Lord” is not a fear of punishment, but a deep reverence for God and a desire never to be separated from him.

Hope in an Age of Anxiety

Despair and presumption are the two modern human conditions that distort Hope. The extreme of presumption means that I do not need God, that I can navigate my time in this life under my own power. Despair on the other hand means that if I struggle to find God at work in the circumstances of my life, then there is no God.  

The anxiety that permeates modern living can be traced back to a misplaced reliance on ourselves rather than trusting in God. Part of that anxiety is pride because we think there are circumstances in our lives that we can manage and control without having need of God. True Hope reminds us that we do not have to bear life’s burdens alone.  Hope anchors us in the reality of the promises of Jesus… Matthew 11:28-30  28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

With Hope, there is a sense of serenity, a peace of mind that comes despite the difficulties that may assail us.   God’s shalom reigns because we have confidence in the God who has proved his trustworthiness. This Hope reassures us that the darkness that comes our way is never the full story.

Prayer Is Connected to Hope

Hope is nourished in prayer. Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that Hope leads us to desire. 

Prayer has traditionally been referred to as the “school of hope.” St. Augustine describes prayer as an exercise of desire. We pray because our lives only have meaning when it is lived as God created us to live.  Man was created for greatness — for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his human heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched.  Through prayer, our hearts expand to receive the Hope God offers.

For prayer to develop this power of transformation and repentance, it must, on the one hand, be something very personal, an encounter between my intimate self and God, the living God. On the other hand, it must be constantly guided and enlightened by the great prayers of the Church and of the saints, by liturgical prayer, in which the Lord teaches us again and again how to pray properly (Benedict).

Hope When Prayers Appear Unanswered

We need to remember that prayer is not about convincing God.  He already knows what is in our hearts long before we know it ourselves.  Prayer does not change God’s mind. Prayer is about our Hope and our confidence in God.  Prayer is a self-reminder that we rely on God, and that is something God desires.

God will answer our prayers, if they are good. And what is a “good” prayer?  A “good” prayer leads us to placing our present and future lives in God’s hands, trusting him to do for us that which he knows is the best thing for us.  “Good” prayer is one that is an expression of our trust and Hope in him. He does answer us, but he may not answer the way we want him.   This prayer is about changing our minds to conform to God's will.

Important in this is understanding the nature and content of our prayer:  What is our prayer about? Am I praying that I am open to God’s will? That he will respond in the best way possible to my prayer?   God brings good out of evil because God is greater than any evil. Our prayer then assists us by guiding us in discerning how God views these things.

Hope Amid Suffering

Hope keeps us from discouragement during moments of suffering.  Hope points us to eternal life, shows us that even when there is suffering or difficulty in this world, in Christ we are more than our immediate struggles.  What is immediate in our lives might threaten to crush us, to overwhelm us, but it never succeeds because we Hope. We know God is far, far more than all of the darkness that threaten. Even if or when they lead us along the pathway to the grave, God will be victorious., is already victorious. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, and in our own deaths we will follow along the same pathway.  Our lives have an eternal significance considering our union with Christ.  We keep our focus on Christ, and all things will work out for the good.  They must.  Practically speaking, this invites us to offer to God our suffering in prayer: 

Lord, purify my sufferings. Take them and enable me to see you working through it. Open my eyes and touch my hear, that I may be content to allow you to work through the suffering I am going through, so that your will can be done in me in whatever I am going through at the present time.

The Letter to the Hebrews speaks of Hope as an anchor …"We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain (Hebrews 6:19).   Hope is the grace keeping us stable amidst the waves and the winds that toss all humans around on our pilgrimage through life.  While our boat is threatened by the waves of adversity crashing all around us, God is there.  Christ is our Saviour, inviting us with those powerfully reassuring words, Peace be with you.

How to Grow in Hope

Gratitude in prayer is an essential first step in living in the Hope God grants us. This Hope is found in acknowledging God as the author of life, the God of the bountiful blessings that surround me and sustain me.  When I recognise the way these things are all free and unearned gifts of a benevolent God, I am living in Hope, and I therefore have Hope.

As a part of our HOPE2025 pilgrimage it is worth recovering  one of the traditional prayer that were once a part of our spiritual arsenal, the Act of Hope and using it daily:

 O Lord God, I hope by your grace for the pardon of all my sins and after life here to gain eternal happiness because you have promised it who are infinitely powerful, faithful, kind and merciful. In this Hope I intend to live and die. Amen. 

O My God, relying on your infinite goodness and promises, I Hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.

Sharing Hope With Others

There is a further element to our engagement with the work of the Spirit in creation. The late Pope Francis encouraged all faithful men and women to be missionaries of Hope during this Jubilee year.   As parts of the Body of Christ, we have been entrusted with the vocation of sharing Hope with one another. Whether through prayer, acts of kindness, or offering our suffering to God, we can become bearers of Hope in a world that so desperately needs it.

The Hope2025 mission is about making small gestures to uplift and support others, to illuminate the way of Hope for others.  These can be as simple as the offering of a smile, a gesture of friendship, a word of inclusion; a kind look, a ready ear, a good deed, all with the acknowledgement that in the Spirit of Jesus, these apparently simple actions can become, for those who receive them,"rich seeds of Hope".

We can perhaps end with the words of Benedict, a great theologian of Hope:  The one who has Hope lives differently; the one who Hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.

Bishop Michael Hough May 2025