March 31, 2019 - Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross - The way of hope

March 31, 2019
Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross

The way of hope

What should concern us is not if we have or do not have hope. The question is what do we hope for, in whom do we place our hope and in what way do we express our hope.

Here we must decipher what false hope is in antithesis to true hope and we must recognize, with utmost honesty and respect, the difficulties we have in living in real hope. It is only in this way that we will be able to inspire hope in others who are struggling in this life.

True hope does not allow room for disillusionment; it reveals the obstacles and the traps that avert its attainment. True hope should not be identified with satisfying our material needs. It is not just the expectation of a better future. It includes the expectation that our relationship with God and our inter-personal relationships will grow and develop in depth and that they will continue eternally in His Kingdom. As Dostoevsky writes, “to live without hope is to stop living”.

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