Jeffrey Bruno, Catholic News Agency
“ Hope empowers men and women
to act, even amidst the most difficult of circumstances.”
One way to“ transform the culture” is to witness to the natural right to express religious conviction in the public arena. hope that my own life and history in general, despite all failures, are held firm by the indestructible power of Love, and that this gives them their meaning and importance, only this kind of hope can give the courage to act and to persevere”( no. 35).
We live and love in hope because we believe. The substance of hope is faith— faith in the Father’ s love, faith in the one whom he sent, faith in the enduring power and truth of the Paschal Mystery.
Faith: Light for the Way
Pope Francis in his first encyclical, co-authored with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, writes,“ Faith is born of an encounter with a living God, who calls us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can lean for security and for building our lives( Lumen Fidei, no. 4). Further, he writes,“ Faith, received from God as a supernatural gift, becomes a light for our way, guiding our journey through time”( no. 4). Faith is the lens through which we view reality, through which we live our lives, through which we choose, in confidence, the path forward.
As Christians,“ we walk by faith, not by sight”( 2 Cor 5:7). We walk not by the measure of this world, but by faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the one who sent him.
It is in the living out of the truth of God’ s love in faith and hope that we bear witness as disciples. Because we are adopted sons and daughters( Eph 1:5) and co-heirs with Christ( Rom 8:17), we jointly and severally have a supernatural duty to bear witness to the Father’ s love, to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father( Phil 2:11). This is the witness we must offer the world whose heralds we have become in baptism, empowered to do so by the grace of confirmation.
As we are convicted of the singular truth of Jesus’ lordship over our lives, this truth in which we abide transforms us, transforms the culture we live in, and, in turn, transforms world. Our conviction is not simply an intellectual assent but rather a pressing into the truth of Jesus’ lordship with our entire self, with our whole being in faith, hope and love.
It is, in a very real sense, the coming of his kingdom( Lk 17:21).
Heaven’ s Vision
Faith, hope, and love are gifts of a loving God who shares his life and heavenly vision with each of us. As we acquire heaven’ s vision as a habitual disposition for our lives, as we respond to these divine gifts, we begin to live differently, to love differently, and to serve differently.
Let us implore the divine favor upon each of us this Paschal Season. Let us ask for the prayers of St. Anne and the intercession of Our Blessed Lady to implore the divine favor for an increase in the supernatural gifts of faith, hope, and love, that we might believe more fully, hope more ardently, and love more completely, unto the Glory of the One slain who now lives forever( Rv 13:8).
Most Rev. Gerard Battersby( 1994, 1998, 2009) is auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit and former vice rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary.
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