‘Hope does not disappoint’ [Romans 5:5]
Poor, elderly and youth

St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman brothers and sisters: “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” [Romans 5:3-5].

The logic of St. Paul is not difficult to understand “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts.”  With God’s love we can endure suffering and grant us the ability to face difficulties in our daily lives.  And thus, “Hope does not disappoint.”  In this Jubilee Year, Pope Francis invites us to live a life of hope, a pilgrimage of hope to bear witness to the plan of God.  

We see support and care were introduced over the last 20 years in Hong Kong and all around the world to help the poor, the aged and the youth. Yet, it seems is nothing new nor has change happened. These people are still being neglected and have no hope for better circumstances. In the past, some people believed there might have many socio-political solutions for improving their situation. Now, they asked themselves, “We have done a lot through government policies to help the poor, we have given money to support the elderly, and we have invested a lot of money, time and services to facilitate the growth of the youth. Yet, we find nothing or little improvement or progress. The poor are still sleeping on street corners or under a flyover or in the subways. The elderly still suffer from loneliness with tears on their faces, or lying on their beds waiting for death. The youth continue to take drugs, commit suicide and just ‘lie flat’ and do nothing. It seems the more we serve, the less we could improve the situation.”

So, what we Catholics need to do to have hope nowadays?

Germany went through materially difficult times after the Second World War. The Catholic Church invited her people from different countries to take collective action to help the country recover and, as expected, it recovered quickly in the late 1950s. In return, the German Catholic Bishops’ Organisation for Development Cooperation started a special mission, MISEREOR, that launched the Lenten Campaign to help the other underdeveloped countries and places, including Hong Kong.

With its help, many countries and places improved their education and health standards, and also their faith and cultural development. In 1986 the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong started its own Lenten Campaign to facilitate the development of society with the help of Caritas-HK. With the help of many people, we witnessed the improvement journey of our society.  

Looking back from this charity pilgrimage, we can say definitely, “Hope does not disappoint”.  It is because “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” We are not going to rely on human intelligence and wisdom. With hope, we are not going to complain or “lie flat”.  Instead, we will continue to pray, serve and witness the glory of God to come.

In this Jubilee Year, we hope God will inspire people to review difficulties with wisdom and lead us to breakthroughs for our pilgrimage of charity and social concern. Let us embrace our hope and set off for this pilgrimage bravely.

Lenten Campaign Organising Committee, 2025