Where’s the Hope?

Easter Sunday

April 20, 2025

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” -1 Peter 1:3

“Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!” I am praying that each of you has a blessed, happy, and holy Easter!

Today marks the high point of the Jubilee Year of Hope called for by Pope Francis. This Christmas, we will celebrate liturgically Jesus’ 2025th birthday. We are preparing for that climactic celebration with a year of preparation in which we are called to be “pilgrims of hope.” What was made manifest to us in the lowly manger on Christmas day, the mystery of God becoming human in the baby Jesus, finds its fulfillment is what we celebrate today, The Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb through which we have forgiveness of our sins and we are offered a share in Jesus’ own eternal life. This day is the source and summit of our liturgical calendar.

So, what do we make of Pope Francis’ invitation to be pilgrims of hope this Jubilee Year? I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that hope is in short supply these days. Whenever I turn on the news I see the same greed, anger, violence, lust, and apathy day after day. Problems are rarely solved, and partisan bickering continues on and on. Over this past winter, I’ve seen good people die suddenly leaving behind grieving loved ones. I’ve also seen other good people who slowly suffer at the end of their lives and their caregivers’ prayer becomes a plea to the Lord to end their pain. Our parish assists many people going through great tragedy: grief, divorce, unemployment, family tensions and betrayals, dire financial situations, precarious pregnancies, chronic illness, cancer, dementia, etc. In the midst of all of this darkness, I ask again: where’s the hope?

For Christians, hope is very different from mere optimism or “wishful thinking.” I’ve been optimistic that the Lions will win the Super Bowl, or the Tigers will win the World Series for over 40 years now. I’m still optimistic this year, but there’s many years when my optimism wasn’t very realistic. I’ve wished for a while to lose 20 pounds or to finish reading the books on my nightstand. So far, the fulfillment of those wishes has rarely come true; and when it has, it wasn’t because of my “wishing” but through a resolve to create the little habits that got those goals accomplished.

Christian Hope is not a wish, but a gift given to us in baptism. We call Christian Hope a theological virtue, which “disposes Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity . . . the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1812-1813) For us as Catholic Christians, our hope is rooted in the promises of our God, who redeems and raises us up. Our hope is in the goodness and love of Our Father who delivered the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea and who raised Jesus from the dead on the third day as the firstborn of the dead never to die again. Our God makes a way out of no way. God has never promised us unlimited prosperity, to protect us from the ebbing and flowing of the fortunes of life, or to spare us pain and suffering. But he has promised to be with us always, through the dyings and risings of our lives. He has promised to suffer with us and to triumph with us, to give us the opportunity to unite our sufferings and triumphs with his own Cross and Resurrection. Our Hope is rooted in that promise.

Christian Hope is not afraid of suffering, darkness, and death. Jesus has undergone these things in his Passion and Death, and he has defeated them through his Resurrection. Just as all human maturation can be measured by the ability to forego short-term pleasures for the sake of long-term well-being, so it is with spiritual maturity. The spiritual maturity of the martyr, the witness willing to suffer and even die in this life for the greater good, is the ultimate seed which grows into a robust Faith, Hope, and Love. Our ultimate Hope is in Eternal Life, life in complete communion with God and neighbor in love. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1817, 1821) In the light of this Eternal Life and Love, living in it right here and now, we can endure all the trials, sufferings, and sorrows of this life—not by ourselves, but united with the One who suffered, died and rose again triumphant. This Easter Vigil, the single unparted flame of the Paschal Candle entered the darkened church as we sang thanksgiving to Christ our Light, who pierces the darkness of this world. We then lit the candles of all the baptized from that single flame until the entire church was bathed in the warm light of Jesus. How badly does this dark world need the Light of Christ’s Hope? How badly do I need it in my life? How badly do you need it in your life? The Light of Jesus’ truth, his compassion, his glory can transform us. We just need to open our hearts to ask for it in Faith, Hope, and Love. This Jubilee Easter can be a renewed start in your relationship with our loving Father if you want it, if you hunger and thirst for it. No matter what sins and trials are in your past; our God, whose name is Mercy, can make a way where we see no way. God is offering you his Love and Light this Easter Season. All you need to do is open your heart to receive his Love in Hope.

John

“O Lord, we pray you that this candle, hallowed to the honor of your name, may persevere undimmed, to overcome the darkness of this night. Receive it as a pleasing fragrance, and let it mingle with the lights of heaven. May this flame be found by . . . the one Morning Star who never sets, Christ your Son, who coming back from death’s domain, has shed his peaceful light on humanity.”
-Easter Proclamation (Exsultet)