Hope

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
19 May 2002

We use the word hope differently and carelessly. We might hope that it does not rain, or hope that we make a lot of money. Others hope to look good and have fun.

More seriously, we hope our country Australia remains peaceful and prosperous. We hope our loved ones continue to enjoy good health.

All these make up a mixed bag of hopes, but it is not yet the hope which Christ offers and Christians proclaim.

Christian hope is not merely wishful thinking, much less an appeal to magic. It is not turning a blind eye to unpleasant facts, nor a cheap claim for the victory of mind over matter.

The foundation for all Christian living is the conviction that the good God knows and loves each one of us, especially in periods of tragedy and trial. Once this personal act of faith is consolidated then love and hope can flourish, because Christian hope is always linked to love and faith in God.

Where hope is weak, there is little love and no direction. Through misfortune people can feel that God has left them (never true unless they drive God out of their hearts through sin), or even that God is punishing them in this life for their sins.

Sometimes the wages of sin are clearly evident (eventually nobody trusts a regular liar), but physical calamities such as earthquakes are not caused by our sins. God has not gone to sleep exhausted after the work of creation or the violence of the twentieth century.

Occasionally, secondary school students insist that their hope is for "schoolies week". Then they would have no school work, no pressure from their parents and teachers, and would be able to make their own decisions.

Very few go back for a second schoolies week. While most do not come to grief, some do, and many youngsters learn for themselves one or two useful lessons. This probably exemplifies the fact that our hopes are usually more selfish until we experience some adversity.

a young man once explained to me that he was an enthusiastic Catholic, but he did not want to feel guilty when he refused to follow Church teaching.

Some forms of guilt are excessive, but guilt is necessary after our sins. Only psychopaths never feel guilt and Christian hope is destroyed, turned to discontent and occasionally despair, by the attempts to turn weakness, even vice, into virtue.

"Catholic lite" has been advertised and sold in some places for years now. It has been a failure. Catholic young people won't buy it. The taste is off. A Incredible things can be done when we have hope. A once met an old lady in hospital who had been confined her to bed for twenty years because of arthritis. What kept her going was an agreement she made with God, accepting this suffering in return for her grand-children not falling into drugs or serious harm. A Her Christian faith gave her this hope. A believe God would have been listening.