Signs of Hope

Jubilee Signs of Hope

September: Families

No family situation is perfect. Even if a family may have the components of a perfect life, there will always be challenges. A family may be happy, wealthy and flourishing. In all this, there will be challenges that can only be known and understood in the family home.  The Holy Family is not perfect because they did not have challenges. It is perfect because it is an authentic family. It is a human family! It is a faithful family! Mary and Joseph despaired when they “lost “ Jesus during their visit to Jerusalem simply because they loved Him and didn’t want Him to be harmed. What may at first seem like despair or anger, in fact, comes from a place of loving care. So, whatever your family situation is today – strong, happy, broken, or miserable - look to the Holy Family.  The Holy Family shows us that to be a good and holy family, we need only be faithful in our love to God and our own families.
Ryan Browne

Dear friends, we received life before we ever desired it. As Pope Francis said: “all of us are sons and daughters, but none of us chose to be born” (Angelus, 1 January 2025). Not only that. As soon as we were born, we needed others in order to live; left to ourselves, we would not have survived. Someone else saved us by caring for us in body and spirit. All of us are alive today thanks to a relationship, a free and freeing relationship of human kindness and mutual care.   That human kindness is sometimes betrayed…Jesus continues to pray to the Father for us. His prayer acts as a balm for our wounds; it speaks to us of forgiveness and reconciliation. That prayer makes fully meaningful our experience of love for one another as parents, grandparents, sons and daughters. That is what we want to proclaim to the world: we are here in order to be “one” as the Lord wants us to be “one,” in our families and in those places where we live, work and study. Different, yet one; many, yet one; always, in every situation and at every stage of life. Dear friends, if we love one another in this way, grounded in Christ, who is “the Alpha and the Omega,” “the beginning and the end” (cf. Rev 22:13), we will be a sign of peace for everyone, in society and the world. Let us not forget: families are the cradle of the future of humanity.     Pope Leo XIV

August: Prisoners

A Prayer for the Incarcerated & their Family

Gracious Lord, look upon our brothers and sisters who are currently incarcerated. Forgive them their sins and the crimes they have committed by which they have harmed others. Remind them each day of your presence in their lives. Strengthen their faith.  May they find it within themselves to seek forgiveness, to repent, and to return to You, their Good Shepherd. Look with love upon their families. Comfort them when they are in despair and ease their fear and pain. May those around them treat them with understanding and compassion. Bless those who minister to those in prison.  May their efforts and prayers help instill in them  hope and a true renewal of life. St. Dismas pray for them. St. Maximillian Kolbe be at the side in times of despair.                           

                              ************************************************************

The Holy Year, with its motto “Pilgrims of hope”, invites us to live the Jubilee as a time of conversion and renewal. Within this framework, acts of clemency towards prisoners take on a profound meaning: they are a concrete manifestation of divine mercy, which calls us to see each person with the eyes of forgiveness and the possibility of redemption. The Jubilee also invites Christian communities to pray and reflect on the situation of prisoners, recalling that many of them face difficult conditions, marked by loneliness, repentance and the desire for a new life. These circumstances challenge the Church to be a beacon of hope for those who need it most. We are invited to build a more just and supportive society, where the dignity of every human being is valued, even in the most adverse circumstances. The Holy Year urges us to be agents of reconciliation, bearing witness to a love that transforms and elevates, even in the darkest moments.

Today, nearly 10 million Americans—including millions of children—have an immediate family member in jail or prison…If not ourselves, the criminal legal system has likely touched a parent, sometimes a sibling, aunt or uncle, maybe a friend. The collateral consequences of incarceration may leave a child without a present mother, or father, a brother without a sister, a niece without her uncle. These disruptions to households and families have truly dire consequences for all of our communities. Extension of grace and care to both individuals incarcerated and their family members that may be impacted is personal, important, and consistent with the Gospel. This is not a matter of offering forgiveness, but of creating pathways for personal change and healing. It is about building relationships of trust and understanding, seeing beyond the surface, and offering a sense of belonging in a world that often isolates and marginalizes…Let us remember the everyone is worthy of redemption and dignity, and we are partners in the sacred work of bringing God’s transformative love to all those who need it.

Service to our incarcerated brothers and sisters is critical for healing in our world. Supporting individuals who are incarcerated challenges us to look beyond the crimes for which people are convicted and to see them as God sees them—not defined by their past mistakes, but by their capacity for change, redemption, and growth. It is critical that we connect with individuals not only as ‘offenders’ but as people who are deserving of grace, dignity and the opportunity for transformation. In the ministry of criminal justice reform, we are often confronted with people who have been written off by society, seen as ‘lost causes’ or defined only by their mistakes. But…no one is beyond the reach of redemption, no one is beyond God’s grace. Redemption is not just about absolution—it is about the possibility of change and transformation.  Christ came not for the righteous, but for the sinner, and as followers, we are called to follow his example.       Patricia Okonta

July: The Elderly

Learning to "honor" the elderly is crucial for our future…The realization of a full life and more just society for the new generations depends on the acknowledgement of the presence and wealth that grandparents and the elderly constitute for us…The corollary of this acknowledgement is respect, which is expressed through welcoming, supporting and enhancing their qualities and their needs. Among the honors due to them, there is certainly the duty to create the best conditions for the elderly to live this particular stage of life where they have been for a lifetime, at home with one’s family if possible and with life-long friends. Who would not want to continue living at home, surrounded by those who are dearest, even when one becomes more fragile? The family, one’s own home, one’s own neighborhood, is the best choice for every aging man and woman.    Pope Francis

Dear grandparents and elderly people, I recommend that you watch over your loved ones with wisdom and compassion, and with the humility and patience that come with age. In the family, faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation. It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts. In this way, families become privileged places in which to encounter Jesus, who loves us and desires our good, always.                 Pope Leo XIV

June: Migrants & Refugees

“The Church is Mother, and her motherly attention is expressed with special tenderness and closeness to those who are obliged to flee their own country and exist between rootlessness and integration. This tension destroys people. Christian compassion—this ‘suffering with’ compassion—is expressed first of all in the commitment to obtain knowledge of the events that force people to leave their homeland, and where necessary, to give voice to those who cannot manage to make their cry of distress and oppression heard. They are all elements that dehumanize and must push every Christian and the whole community to concrete attention.”       Pope Francis 

“Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women, and men who leave or are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more.”   Pope Francis

“Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others
will be the yardstick which time will use for us.”  Pope Francis
 
May the Christian community always be prepared to defend the rights of those who are most vulnerable, opening wide its doors to welcome them, lest anyone ever be robbed of the hope of a better future. May the Lord’s words in the great parable of the Last Judgement always find an echo in our hearts: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” for “just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me” (Mt 25: 35-40).
Pope Francis: Spes Non Confundit

Signs of hope should also be present for migrants who leave their homelands behind in search of a better life for themselves and for their families. Their expectations must not be frustrated by prejudice and rejection. A spirit of welcome, which embraces everyone with respect for his or her dignity, should be accompanied by a sense of responsibility, lest anyone be denied the right to a dignified existence. Exiles, displaced persons, and refugees, whom international tensions force to emigrate in order to avoid war, violence and discrimination ought to be guaranteed security and access to employment and education, the means they need to find their place in a new social context.
Pope Francis: Spes Non Confundit #

May: Vocations

The Vocation to Priesthood
 
The priestly vocation is a gift from God…The Church is called to safeguard this gift, to esteem it, and love it. She is responsible for the birth and development of priestly vocations…A very special responsibility falls upon the Christian family which by virtue of the Sacrament of Matrimony shares in its own unique way in the educational mission of the Church. …Much importance should be given to the pastoral work on behalf of the family in order that the families themselves generously…may be as it were, a first seminary in which children can acquire from the beginning an awareness of piety and prayer and of love for the Church…The promotion of priestly vocations should be at the heart of the love which each Christian feels for the Church.

The Vocation to the Single Life
 
Life as a single person can be a vocation from God! It is not simply reserved as the last “default” option, but the single life can be the way we serve God and one another. The vocation to the single life is a vocation to generosity. Single women and men usually have more freedom than those in other vocations. They tend to have more time, energy, and sometimes money to give themselves in service of God and others. Single people can become examples of great service and generosity. Often it is single people who do so much to make things happen. The vocation to the single life is a gift to the Church!  
 
While all are called to live as single people for a time before or between other vocations, some are called to live the single life permanently. With their freedom, single people have a vast array of possibilities in front of them. A strong prayer and sacramental life and participation in your parish community are great ways to discern how to live the single life generously working for Kingdom of Heaven. If you are single and believe God may be calling you to live this way as your vocation, we encourage you to explore and discover ways in which you can become involved and give your life in generous service! Diocese of Gary Website

The Vocation to Consecrated Life
 
What does it mean to become a consecrated person, a religious Sister, Brother, or Priest? What do the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience mean?  Archabbot Lambert Reilly explains these vows in his address to those about to enter the Benedictine Order:
 
“You desire to follow Christ more closely and imitate him more nearly.  And that desire is spelled out through the vows you will pronounce.  I’d like to look… at those vows:  
 
There is the vow of poverty, wherein you give up, and wherein you gain. You give up all and you gain a hundredfold here and you gain eternal life. As your life goes on, by the grace of this vow, you will find God is the true wealth of your hearts. You will be free of possessions and will be free for God. You give up, but you get more than you give up.
 
There’s the vow of chastity. That vow tells everyone who gets to know you that you believe in the life that is to come. You still belong to your family; you belong to the Church. In giving up, you’ll really gain more.  
 
There’s the vow of obedience: This is a vow that enables you…to walk according to someone else’s judgment. But that judgment comes from a proven way of life that will lead you to God. Obedience is always difficult and it’s meant to be. But it’s a proof of the love of the Christ whom you choose to follow.”

The Call to Married Life
We usually think of a  “vocation crisis” in the Church as the declining numbers of priests and consecrated religious, but we are also experiencing a crisis in the vocation of Holy Matrimony. Each year fewer and fewer couples are approaching the Church to celebrate the sacrament of marriage.   In 2020, only 97,200 weddings took place nationwide among a Catholic population of about 73 million. In 1969, 278,175 weddings took place nationwide among a Catholic population of about 54 million. We have more Catholics, but far fewer weddings. The Holy See reports that while the number of Catholics has been increasing throughout the world over the last ten years, the number of Catholic weddings has been decreasing. This is not just a “Catholic” problem. According to the Pew Research Center, in the United States, adults ages 25 to 54 who are currently married fell from 67 percent in 1990 to 53 percent in 2019, while cohabiting couples more than doubled over that same period.
 
Studies have shown that one of the most consistent predictors of marital satisfaction is the frequency with which a couple prays together and/or attends religious services together. Another ray of hope on the horizon is the Vatican’s call for a “marriage catechumenate” which lays out a more comprehensive model for marriage preparation and support. Pope Francis reminded us that “Mother Church…bears a duty of justice to devote time and energy to the preparation of those whom the Lord calls to the great mission of family life.” Why? Because, as Pope Francis stated “Devoting time to someone is a sign of love.”  

April:  Youth

The Apostle says: "Young people, you are strong": all that is needed is that "the word of God abide in you". Then you are strong: thus, you will succeed in getting at the hidden workings of evil, its sources, and thus you will gradually succeed in changing the world, transforming it, making it more human, more fraternal—and at the same time more of God. For it is impossible to detach the world from God or set it up in opposition to God in the human heart. Nor is it possible to detach man from God and set him up in opposition to God. For this would be against the nature of man—against the intrinsic truth that constitutes the whole of reality! Truly the human heart is restless until it rests in God. These words of the great Augustine never lose their validity.Being young should enable you to "increase in wisdom" through…new contacts, new companions, and friendships, in a circle wider than the family alone. This whole youthful experience will be useful to the extent that it gives you the ability to make critical judgments and above all the capacity of discernment in all things human…[W]e learn to know other human beings, in order to become more fully human through our capacity for "self- giving:" for becoming men and women "for others". This truth…has its culmination in Jesus of Nazareth. My wish for you too is a similar "growth" through contact with God. For this purpose, contact with nature and with other people can help indirectly, but the special and direct means is prayer. Pray and learn to pray! Open your hearts and your consciences to the one who knows you better than you know yourselves. Talk to him! Deepen your knowledge…by reading and meditating on the Scriptures…These are the means for coming close to God.
 ∼ St. John Paul II: Dilecti Amici

If you are young in years, but feel weak, weary, or disillusioned, ask Jesus to renew you. With him, hope never fails. You can do the same if you feel overwhelmed by vices, bad habits, selfishness, or unhealthy pastimes. Jesus, brimming with life, wants to help you make your youth worthwhile. In this way, you will not deprive the world of the contribution that you alone can make, in all your uniqueness and originality. Yet let me also remind you that, “when we live apart from others, it is very difficult to fight against concupiscence, the snares and temptations of the devil, and the selfishness of the world. Bombarded as we are by so many enticements, we can grow too isolated, lose our sense of reality and inner clarity, and easily succumb.” This is especially the case with young people, for whenever you are united, you have marvelous strength. Whenever you are enthused about life in common, you are capable of great sacrifices for others and for the community. Isolation, on the other hand, saps our strength and exposes us to the worst evils of our time.
∼ Pope Francis :   Christus Vivit:  4.

Sadly, the young see their dreams and aspirations frustrated. We must not disappoint them, for the future depends on their enthusiasm. It is gratifying to see  the energy the demonstrate…by rolling up their sleeves and volunteering to help when disasters strike. Let us demonstrate care and concern for the rising generation. Let us draw close to the young for they are the joy and hope of the Church and of the world!  ∼ Pope Francis.

Signs of hope are also needed by those who are the very embodiment of hope…the young. Sadly, they often see their dreams and aspirations frustrated. We must not disappoint them, for the future depends on their enthusiasm. It is gratifying to see the energy they demonstrate…by rolling up their sleeves and volunteering when disasters strike and people are in need. Yet, it is sad to see young people who are without hope, who face an uncertain and unpromising future, who lack employment or job security, or realistic prospects after finishing school. Without the hope that their dreams can come true, they will…grow discouraged and listless. Escaping into drugs, risk-taking and the pursuit of momentary pleasure does greater harm to them…since it closes them to life’s beauty…and can lead to depression and even self-destructive actions. Let us demonstrate our care and concern for the rising generation…for they are the joy and hope of the Church and of the world!
Pope Francis:  Spes Non Confundit, 12 

March: Reconciliation 

God’s forgiveness is unconditional.  It is this divine forgiveness that I must practice in my daily life.  It calls me to keep stepping over all my arguments that say forgiveness is not wise, unhealthy, and impractical. It challenges me to step over all my needs for gratitude and compliments.  Finally, it demands of me that I step over that wounded part of my heart that feels hurt and wronged and that wants to stay in control and put a few conditions between me and the one whom I am asked to forgive.  ∼H. Nouwen 

...& Family

Can we forgive our family for not having loved us as well as we wanted to be loved? Can we forgive our fathers for being demanding, authoritarian, indifferent, unaffectionate, absent, or simply more interested in other people or things than in us? Can we forgive our mothers for being possessive, scrupulous, controlling, preoccupied,…overly busy, or simply more concerned with a career than with us?

Can we forgive our brothers and sisters for not playing with us, for not sharing their friends with us, for talking down to us, or for making us feel stupid or useless? There is a lot to forgive, not just because our family was not as caring as other families, but because all the love received was imperfect and very limited. Our parents also are children of parents who didn’t love them in a perfect way, and even our grandparents had parents who were not ideal.  There is so much to forgive.  But if we are willing to see our own parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents as people like ourselves with a desire to love but also with many unfulfilled needs, we might be able to step over our anger, our resentments, or even our hatred, and discover that their limited love is still real love, a love for which to be grateful. Once we are able to forgive, we can be grateful for what we have received. And we received so much. We can walk, talk, smile, move, laugh, cry, eat, drink, dance, play, work, sing, give life, give joy, give hope, give love. Our fathers and mothers gave us life and our brothers and sisters helped us to live it. Once we are no longer blinded by their so-obvious weaknesses, we can see clearly how much there is to be grateful for.  ∼H. Nouwen 

 Reconciliation 
The Sacrament of Penance assures us that God wipes away our sins. We experience those powerful and comforting words of the Psalm: ‘It is he who forgives your guilt, who heals everyone of your ills, who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with love and compassion.’ The Sacrament of Reconciliation is not only a magnificent spiritual gift, but also a decisive, essential, and fundamental step on our journey of faith. There, we allow the Lord to erase our sins, to heal our hearts, to raise us up, to embrace us and to reveal to us his tender and compassionate countenance. There is no better way to know God that to let him reconcile us to himself and savour his forgiveness. Let us not neglect Confession, but rediscover the beauty of this sacrament of healing and joy, the beauty of God’s forgiveness of our sins!

We know from personal experience, every sin ‘leaves its mark.’ Sin has consequences, not only outwardly in the effects of the wrong we do, but also inwardly, inasmuch as ‘every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death, in the state called Purgatory.’ In our humanity, weak and attracted by evil, certain residual effects of sin remain.  These are removed by the indulgence, always by the grace of Christ, who as St. Paul VI wrote, ‘is himself our indulgence.’ 

∼ Pope Francis: Spes Non Confundit, #23

February:  The Sick and Homebound

The sufferings of the sick, at home or in the hospital…can be allayed by the closeness and affection of those who visit them. How grateful we should always be to healthcare workers, who often, in precarious conditions, carry out their mission with constant care and concern for the sick and for those who are most vulnerable. Please keep the sick, the homebound and  healthcare workers in your prayers. 

Peace

The first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in our world, which once more finds itself immersed in the tragedy of war…Is it too much to dream that arms can fall silent and cease to rain down destruction and death? May diplomacy be tireless in its commitment to seek…lasting peace.