Pilgrims of Hope
In a time that needs the witness of Christian hope more than ever, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, says the following about hope: it is a gift of God and a task for every Christian. He explains that it is more than just “a mere act of optimism.” Rather, it is “waiting for something that has already been given to us” (salvation and full communion with the Lord.) What might that look like in the world of today? Many years ago, while presenting the pro-life position to a group of high schoolers, one boy asked what could be wrong with abortion if you were saving a baby from a terrible life of unhappiness. Our seminarian responded by pointing out that if we were to follow that logic, we should take a gun out and shoot everyone who is currently unhappy. The young man was not operating from a vision of life informed by hope but rather from the belief that happiness and unhappiness are unchangeable and, in fact, the only thing that really matters. He did not have the wisdom to see …
Facing Our Immortality 