We can face this new year, still marked by disorientation and loneliness, in a positive way if we allow ourselves to be helped by the power of hope, for ourselves and for others.
Hope, on the one hand, urges us not to lose sight of the final goal that gives meaning and value to our entire existence and, on the other, offers us solid and profound motivations for our daily commitment to transforming reality and bringing it into conformity with God’s plan.
Hope expresses the awareness that every day of our lives and at every moment we can sincerely say, based on God’s promise, that the best is yet to come. Indeed, hope is not passive optimism but, on the contrary, “is combative, with the tenacity of someone heading toward a certain goal” (Pope Francis, Angelus, September 6, 2015)
To face the uncertainty of today, of what we will be tomorrow, and of what the world will be, we must remind ourselves that it is possible to nurture and make the seed of hope sprout, which, as Charles Péguy says, is the “youngest sister” of faith and charity.
We can do this by starting the day with a quote from a writer, a saint, a philosopher, or a figure of our time on the themes that run through our lives: love, friendship, remembrance, but above all hope. Carrying it in our hearts and repeating it throughout the day will help us put ourselves on the line again, because “hope is an invisible thread that connects dreams to their ability to come true” (Stephen Littleword).
That is why we hope for great things in 2022; we also hope amid difficulties.
