There is never a reason for a Catholic to be without hope

The Jubilee Year 2025 encourages all Catholics to become active Pilgrims of Hope as we journey to our eternal home in heaven. We enjoy our path forward by virtue of who we are as children of God. We received this distinction on the day we were born-again through the waters of baptism. This great sacrament was the singular moment we became members of Christ’s Body; members of the Royal Family of Christ with Jesus Christ as Our Lord and King.  
 
Many ask: What exactly do we celebrate during this Jubilee Year? Briefly, we celebrate 2025 years since Jesus Christ, “the eternal Word (of God) became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John1:14). Sacred Scripture asserts: “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

The Jubilee Year is our opportunity to reaffirm our faith and to seek greater understanding of what we believe as hope-filled followers of Christ. I use the term “hope-filled” because, in the words of Saint John Paul II, “hope does not disappoint.”

The general theme of our Jubilee Year characterizes us as Pilgrims of Hope. This theological virtue of “hope” may be the least understood of all the theological virtues. Through His teaching, Christ has given us hope in the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven and to eternal life with Him. Hope is an aspiration, a desire for God’s love and grace. It inspires us and grounds us. In the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas, “Hope is the sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” Once we come to know and have faith in God we can begin to hope for His graces to help us persevere to the end. This is the reason why a Catholic can say with certainty: there is never a reason to be without hope!

Although the theological virtue of hope is the same word we use in ordinary language to suggest a kind of optimism they both have distinct differences. For example, we may hope to pass a college exam and/or may hope to find a lost object. Such hope, however, doesn’t have its foundation as a theological virtue. Hope in Christ, on the other hand, is a supernatural gift; hope of intercession from God the Father, a hope of “divine” strength and endurance that will aid us in striving towards the Divine Life.

The Athanasian Creed summarizes well the content of our hope in its teaching of the Church regarding the nature of Jesus Christ: “He is God from the substance of his Father, begotten before all ages; and man from the substance of his mother, born in time; perfect God, perfect man.” This is the mystery of the Incarnation: the eternal Word of God is incarnated or takes on flesh. St. John also tells us, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). It is the Father who gives His Son, and also the Son, the suffering servant, who freely gives Himself unto death for the world’s salvation. This is what the first disciples, mostly strict Jews, witnessed and for which we hope as well.

The Catechism teaches the truth that we believe in God alone, only One God, not three or four or five. Various biblical passages explain that believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One He sent, His “beloved Son,” (Matthew 17:5) in whom the Father is “well pleased” (Matthew 17:5). God (the Father) counsels that we “listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). As well, Jesus Himself said to His disciples: “Believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1). We believe in Jesus Christ because He is Himself God, “the Word made flesh” (John 1:14). “No one has ever seen God; only the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (John 1:18). Since He “has seen the Father,” Jesus Christ is therefore “the only one who knows him and can reveal him” (CCC 151).

The Catechism also explains that we “cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit” (CCC 152). Why such a teaching? Because, the Church teaches, “it is the Holy Spirit who reveals ... who Jesus is” (CCC 152) and the Spirit who gives us hope. As Saint Paul writes, “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Earlier St. Paul wrote: “No one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11). We believe in the Holy Spirit because He is God. Like the Father and the eternal “Word made flesh” (Jesus Christ), the Holy Spirit always was and always will be.

In the Catechism and throughout Church documents, the Church talks about the Holy Trinity but never attempts to comprehend it fully. The fact is that it is never possible to do so through the use of reason. We need to accept the truth of the Holy Trinity as a mystery of the inner life of God, not something to be understood, but to be lovingly encountered, especially as the fruit of our prayer.

The Word made flesh, says the Catechism, “willed humanly in obedience to His Father all that He had decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation” (CCC 475). Thus, the love with which Christ, our divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father is, without exception, the way He loves “all human beings” (CCC 478). No doubt this perfect love made Him the perfect arbitrator to achieve humanity’s reconciliation to God. No wonder we are hope-filled and there is never a reason for a Catholic to be without hope.

Father Hillier serves as diocesan director, Office of Pontifical Mission Societies, the Office for Persons with Disabilities and Censor Luborum.