Reinvigorating the important virtue of hope

by Joseph Nangle, OFM
Pax Christi USA 2023 Teacher of Peace

“Summertime and the livin’ is easy…,” an accurate observation with attendant possibilities for reading and calm reflection. The present moment calls us to these “leisure” activities. We all have the feeling that everywhere we turn, things seem to be unraveling – on a global scale, here in our country, and in the Church. The value of summer, a time to reflect with serenity on this moment, is inestimable. We cannot overlook, much less escape, the “signs of our times,” and as people of faith we must find light in the surrounding darkness. Or as the letter of St. Peter says, we need to “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the Hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15)

We must engage directly with the current dark realities.

• a generalized toxic mood
• Gaza and the worldwide wrenching debates about the genocide happening in that tortured land
• the existential threat of nuclear war initiated by Russia or China [or Israel and the United States]
• the growing world-wide gap between those who are wealthy and people who are poor
• the increasing possibility of planetary destruction
• the looming danger of a nation-destroying authoritarianism in the U.S.

Another similar dark scenario comes in a new book by journalist Frank Bruni entitled The Age of Grievance. The author portrays contemporary United States as “consumed by corrosive resentment on both ends of the political spectrum, driving its poles further apart and rewarding hyperbole, bitterness, acrimony and self-pity.” Bruni makes the following deadly observation: “[People] aggrieved on all sides have lost – or lost interest in – the ability  to see beyond their sights to a common good in which they don’t get all they want … [T]his is an era of mass immaturity.” These are examples of U.S. belief in our national exceptionalism and entitlement.

In the midst of this depressing scenario, we can look once again to Pope Francis. On May 9 of this year, the Feast of the Lord’s Ascension, he formally announced the Jubilee Year of 2025, with the theme “Hope Does Not Disappoint.” In announcing the Jubilee Year, Francis said: “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 farsighted vision.”

This is the call from our faith tradition. It reminds one of the challenge in the first letter of St. Peter: “Be always ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) Reinvigorating the ever-so-important virtue of hope, active, vigorous hope, is a gift to ourselves in this time we’ve been given to live and to the whole world.

Pope Francis has consistently offered both spiritual and practical examples of its meaning. In his October 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti, the Holy Father wrote the following: “Hope speaks to us of a thirst, an aspiration, a longing for life of fulfillment, a desire to achieve great things, things that fill our heart and lift our spirit to lofty realities like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love…” (FT 55)

On a practical level, Francis continued: “The recent pandemic enabled us to recognize and appreciate once more all those around us who, in the midst of fear responded by putting their lives on the line… doctors, nurses, pharmacists, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caretakers, transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and public safety, volunteers, priests, sisters and religious.” [FT 54]

Following these insights of Pope Francis in this difficult time will make us witnesses of the promise held out in Luke’s Gospel: “The dawn from on high will break upon all those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.” (Luke 1:78:79)

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Joe Nangle OFM is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace and the 2023 Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace. As a member of the Assisi Community in Washington, D.C., he is dedicated to simple living and social change. Joe also serves as the Pastoral Associate for the Latino community at Our Lady Queen of Peace, Arlington, Virginia.