2025: Hope in a year for hope

Shortly before Christmas, the Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland wrote a piece in which he sought to respond to a reader's question: How do we live in this terrible world? In his reply, he wrote of the need for deliberate, willed optimism - finding light in the darkness does not just happen; you have to work at it; of celebrating what is good, and drawing strength and inspiration from others' courage and tenacity. His column evoked a response in several readers, who, in their letters, wrote of goodness and selflessness, of living in the moment, or seeking to make a difference, however small. 

A couple of times in his column, Freedland used the word 'hope', which resonated with some of the readers in their responses - and with me. For a long time, now, I'm aware of having believed - sometimes during the darkest times in this country or our world - of the need to hold on to hope; of being hope for myself, and for others. As with Pandora's Box, when the world seems filled and swirling with pain, cruelty, violence and war, hope is all that remains. And, as I have written a few times, the words Spes Unica - one and only hope - on our profession crosses, speak powerfully to me of our hope, founded in Jesus' pierced and broken Heart: remind me, too, that the seeds of all our redemption and new life lie in Jesus; in the power and the wounds of his love - and in the pain and the love in each of us, and in our world.

So, I am looking forward to the 2025 Jubilee of Hope, which we have just begun. With its theme, Pilgrims of Hope, it will be a year of hope for a world suffering from war, climate change, poverty, instability and the ongoing effects of Covid19, among other things. And it can become a year of hope for each one of us; a year for truly rooting ourselves in God, and in the hope, from and in God, which does not fade, or disappoint us... a hope which strengthens, and which always calls us to create light and healing and hope, however we can.

Freedland ended his column by saying: How do we live in this terrible world? Perhaps by accepting that it’s the only one we have and that it’s not always so terrible – that sometimes, even quite often, it can be rather beautiful. My response to that is Amen! - but more; because we cannot live in this world without the hope of its increased beauty, and the resolve to play our part in bringing this about. 

And so I wish you all a 2025 filled with jubilee, blessings and with hope, however and wherever you find it, in this blessed and broken world, which is also rather beautiful.