by Fr. Nicholas Kipper
Moderator of the Curia
Director of Communications
I think that many would agree with me that these past four months have felt like an eternity. So many out of the ordinary things have happened in such a short period of time.
The novel coronavirus has not just affected our local community, but our whole country and the entire world. We have all to some extent felt the virus’ crippling effects.
Perhaps most heart-wrenching is the fact that many have died from the coronavirus without the comfort and consolation of loved ones at their side due to fear of further spread of the virus. Others have contracted the virus and have painfully endured its consequences.
Everyone has felt the effects of the coronavirus as it has caused a slowdown in the world economy. Many have lost their jobs and live in great fear of what the future holds. Schools had to shift almost overnight to a digital platform. Graduating seniors for the most part were unable to receive the closure and joy of graduation ceremonies.
Moreover, due to the tragic and reprehensible death of George Floyd, many Americans went to the streets in peaceful protest against injustice. Sadly, vandals, anarchists, and looters turned these protests into an opportunity to unleash violence, disorder, and mayhem.
These last few months have brought about a great deal of pain, anger, and fear. I think that it’s fair to say that our republic has been shaken and unsettled, causing our hearts to be filled with restlessness and uncertainty. However, our Lord has fashioned our hearts to be at peace.
In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI wrote an encyclical letter entitled Spe Salvi (“In hope we were saved”). In this encyclical, he writes “redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present...”
Christian Hope is indeed the virtue that we need in order to face the uncertainty and instability of our current circumstances, no matter how daunting they might seem. Hope is what will calm our hearts during this time of unrest.
The Letter to the Hebrews describes the virtue of hope as the “anchor of the soul” (Heb 6:19). This image of the anchor was often used in the early church, and for good reason. An anchor keeps a ship from being carried away by the wind or strong ocean currents, holding it firmly in place.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that hope is the “virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength but on the help of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1817). The Christian virtue of hope keeps us firmly anchored in Christ. No matter what chaos and uncertainty might be going on around us, he will give us peace through the Holy Spirit, a peace that the world cannot give.
Recall the scene from St. Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus is asleep in a boat on the Sea of Galilee and his disciples were with him. A great storm came and so the frightened disciples woke Jesus up saying, “we are perishing”! Jesus asks them: “why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Then, he calmed the sea (Mt 8: 23-27).
This scene from the Gospel reminds us to place our trust and hope in the Lord, for he is always here with us. We may think that he is asleep—unconcerned, distant, or aloof. But, he is in our midst and he promises us an abundant life. After all, the Lord has promised us a share in his resurrection; he has promised us eternal life in him.
Trusting in Jesus is possible through grace, but it’s not easy. It’s a daily choice to strive to foster a more just and loving world, but not to be overwhelmed or discouraged by the evils of the world.
It’s helpful to turn to the saints for inspiration and guidance in building up the virtue of hope within our hearts. The saints trusted in the Lord and not themselves, remaining serene during difficult times. Through the saints, we see in the flesh, the work of the Holy Spirit.
St. Pope John Paul II has always been a great inspiration to me because he was a man of great hope—even though he had every excuse to despair.
A native of Poland during the 20th Century, St. John Paul II experienced great difficulties in life from an early age. His mother died when he was 8 years old. All of his siblings and his father died before he was ordained a priest, leaving him, essentially, an orphan.
He lived under two oppressive and cruel totalitarian regimes. First, he lived under Nazi occupation, where he had to undertake his seminary studies underground. He had close friends, both Catholic and Jewish, perish in the Nazi concentration camps; he himself narrowly escaped capture by the Nazis. Later, he endured the oppression of the communist regime.
Because he lived in such stormy times, St. John Paul II had every reason to become bitter, to despair and fall into the practical atheism of his day, but he chose not to do so. He chose to hope. In fact, he said that wanted to be known as a “witness to hope.”
We may be going through a kind of storm in our country at this time. This storm may be causing some fear and anxiety within our hearts. It’s good for us to remember that the remedy to that fear and anxiety is not found in the midst of the world, but by God himself as we seek to be anchored in the virtue of hope.
