杏MAP导航

By Linda Bordoni

鈥淐hristian hope gives us the courage to build a fraternal and peaceful world when it seems barely worth the effort,鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis said as he encouraged the faithful to rejoice in the gift of the resurrection and 鈥渟ee the promise of good at times when evil seems to prevail.鈥�

The reality of Christian hope was at the heart of the 杏MAP导航鈥檚 homily as he celebrated Second Vespers on the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord in St. Peter鈥檚 Basilica following a ceremony in which he proclaimed the ordinary Jubilee of 2025 with the public reading and delivery of the Bull of Indiction.

The theme chosen for the Jubilee year that kicks off on 24 December 2024 with the Opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter鈥檚 Basilica is 鈥淧ilgrims of Hope鈥�.

Invitation to celebrate and proclaim hope to the world

鈥淏rothers and sisters,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥淛esus destroyed our death, that we might receive life, forever,鈥� and explained that 鈥渋t is this hope, based on Christ who died and rose again, that we wish to celebrate, ponder and proclaim to the whole world in the coming Jubilee.鈥�

This hope, he explained, 鈥渉as nothing to do with mere human optimism or the ephemeral expectation of some earthly benefit.鈥� It is 鈥渁 gift daily bestowed upon us until the time when we will be one in the embrace of His love.鈥�

杏MAP导航 Francis celebrates Vespers on the Solemnity of the Ascension   (Vatican Media)

Hope sustains us in the journey of our lives

Reflecting on the concept and reality of Christian hope that is 鈥渦nperishable鈥� and 鈥渦nfading鈥�, the 杏MAP导航 said it sustains us in the journey of our lives, even during the darkest and most difficult moments and times.

It opens our eyes to future possibilities, he continued and makes us see the promise of good at times when evil seems to prevail.  

杏MAP导航 Francis celebrates Vespers on the Solemnity of the Ascension   (Vatican Media)

Singers of hope in a world marked by despair

杏MAP导航 Francis went on to encourage Christians, as they prepare for the celebration of the Jubilee, to lift up their hearts to Christ, and become 鈥�singers of hope in a world marked by too much despair.鈥�

Hope, he remarked, is needed by the society in which we live, 鈥渙ften caught up only in the present and incapable of looking to the future;鈥� it is needed by our age, 鈥渃aught up in an individualism that is frequently and content merely to scrape along from day to day.鈥�

Hope 鈥� he continued 鈥� 鈥渋s needed by God鈥檚 creation, gravely damaged and disfigured by human selfishness,鈥� and it is needed by peoples and nations who look to the future with anxiety and fear. 

鈥淎s injustice and arrogance persist, the poor are discarded, wars sow seeds of death, the least of our brothers and sisters remain at the bottom of the pile, and the dream of a fraternal world seems an illusion.鈥� Hope, he said, brings courage, comfort, closeness and care.

Hope, the 杏MAP导航 said, is needed by our young people, by the elderly, by the sick and by those who suffer in body and spirit.

杏MAP导航 Francis celebrates Vespers on the Solemnity of the Ascension   (Vatican Media)

Hope is needed by the Church

鈥淗ope is needed by the Church,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 added, so she never forgets, that 鈥渁s the Bride of Christ, she is loved with an eternal and faithful love, called to hold high the light of the Gospel, and sent forth to bring to all the fire that Jesus definitively brought to the world.鈥�

In times of darkness, the 杏MAP导航 remarked, even when we feel overwhelmed by despair and unknowingly yearn for the presence of God, we are reminded of the words of theologian Fr. Romano Guardini who wrote that once darkness has lifted and people ask God: 鈥淟ord, where were you? they will once more hear his answer: 鈥楥loser to you than ever before!鈥�

鈥淏rothers and sisters,鈥� he concluded, 鈥淢ay the Lord, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, grant us the grace to rediscover hope, to proclaim hope and to build hope.

杏MAP导航 Francis celebrates Vespers on the Solemnity of the Ascension   (Vatican Media)