Au Yeung Yuk Ming,
Lenten Campaign committee member
In a few days it will be Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent this year. In response to the Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Francis, we have chosen “Pilgrims of Hope” as the theme for this year’s Lenten campaign.
The Jubilee is a time of special grace that allows us to relive our search for God and our experience of encountering him.
Over the years, the most common organised activity during a Jubilee Year has been the pilgrimage. Pilgrims go to the places where Jesus left his footprints or those which have profound religious importance. They pray, read and meditate on scripture, to have the experience of seeing, hearing and immersing themselves. But why does the pope emphasise that today’s pilgrims should have hope?
I am not sure if it is a common view that of the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love, hope is rarely mentioned in Sunday homilies and faith sharing. In fact, in the gospels, Jesus talks about faith and charity quite frequently. For example, he repeatedly praised those who came to him for healing, saying, “Your faith has saved you” or “Great is your faith” and pointed out in many parables that people must have lasting faith.
There are also extensive chapters teaching the commandments of loving God and loving each other. However, in Jesus’ teachings, there are few direct references to hope.
In the Bible, hope mainly appears in the letters of St. Paul. A well known passage is “affliction produces endurance; and endurance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint.” [Romans 5:4-5]. In other verses, hope is often juxtaposed with faith and charity, such as “for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the holy ones because of the hope reserved for you in heaven” [Colossians 1:4-5],and as well in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 and 1 Thessalonians 5:8.
The famous hymn of love also says this: “Love …believes in all things, hopes in all things…love never fails…So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” [1 Corinthians 13:7-13]. This seems to tell us that hope is based on believing in God’s everlasting love. The pope begins the Jubilee Bull of Indiction with the verse “Hope does not disappoint.” I think the purpose is naturally to make us re-understand the importance of hope.
The opposite of hope is disappointment and despair. Hope leads us towards life, but despair points to death. The late Pope Benedict XVI once contrasted Peter and Judas, pointing out that they were both apostles who had betrayed Jesus and both felt guilty. The former still cherished hope and had hope in the Lord he had followed for three years and his love, while the latter’s disappointment in the Lord led to despair in himself, and ultimately he chose to end his life.
The lack of hope has also given rise to the culture of death in modern society. Pope St. John Paul II expressed his concerns about the culture of death in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae [The Gospel of Life]. Many people nowadays advocate euthanasia and abortion to solve the so-called problems caused by the elderly, disabled, stubbornly ill, and even unborn fetuses. In fact, the real problem is caused by apathy among people and a loss of hope in life.
The pope encourages us to care for the different groups around us and for the entire creation. He specifically mentions prisoners, the sick and medical staff, young people, those who have left home, the abandoned elderly and the poor. We must not only be pilgrims of hope, but also sowers of hope to everyone.
