Special Edition #2 of the Senior Side Column: The Power of Hope

Dear Fellow Seniors… when I was a boy in the WWII era, the world experienced a great amount of anxiety, fear and uncertainty about the future. When would the war end? Would the axis powers prevail? Would there be a tomorrow for the younger generation? It was perhaps the greatest global crisis in modern history.

The war did end. The GI’s did come home and they became the foundation for the Baby Boomer generation, the largest generation in the history of the U.S. The world went from crisis to prosperity.

Looking back on past crises, we seniors can say that we have lived through the best of times and worst of times. Along the way we have accumulated a vast amount of experience which for many culminates in wisdom, which we also know to be a gift of the Holy Spirit.

But, there is another gift and strength that relates strongly to our experience and that is the theological virtue of HOPE. Over the decades we have learned to maintain the perspective knowing that hope is the one virtue we can pray for in times of need and to be thankful for in times of plenty.

We have been experiencing one of the most difficult crises in our lifetime with the Covid-19 pandemic. It too will eventually pass but praise be to God that seniors everywhere have played a major role in helping to combat this threat.

In the midst of the current pandemic, many people around the world, including some seniors, began to wonder if hope was the answer. Our mental and psychological wellbeing was being tested. We longed to return to normal. The shelter-in-place and the new normal was taking a toll. We desperately were seeking a calming, compassionate voice. Into the void from the beginning and throughout the crisis came our spiritual leader, a fellow senior, Pope Francis.

Of the many things he did and continues to do, there are two specific responses that stand out in my mind. The first was the granting of the possibility of a plenary indulgence for all those who participated in the special prayer service on March 27 or who participated in prayers for an end to the coronavirus in other prescribed ways.

This extraordinary moment of prayer was watched by more than ten million people. It was an extremely emotional event. The Pope walked haltingly across St. Peter’s Square, alone in fading light as the rain poured down, without even an umbrella. After entering the Basilica, he lifted the Blessed Sacrament and, with some difficulty holding the weight of the monstrance, gave the blessing. This special papal blessing (Urbi et Orbi, “to the city and to the world”) is usually reserved for Christmas Day, Easter Sunday and for the first blessing from a newly elected pontiff.

By way of review, a plenary indulgence is the remission of one’s entire temporal punishment for sin, which can be received for the benefit of one’s own soul or offered for the soul of a faithful departed in Purgatory. The Church places three conditions for obtaining a plenary indulgence: sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, with a spirit of detachment from all sin. The opportunity to receive this special plenary indulgence is still available during this time of Covid-19.

Pope Francis likened the pandemic to the Biblical passage when Jesus and the Apostles are in a boat at sea, when a violent storm threatens their survival. Jesus is sleeping, and the Apostles, annoyed, wake him. He tells them not to worry—to just have faith. Pope Francis then says, “Now we, too, are in a storm, but we are all truly in the same boat, and God is with us.”

The second significant highlight of his enduring leadership during this crisis was his Easter Vigil homily on Holy Saturday. He spoke in isolation, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, as he proclaimed a message of hope, love and faith.

There was one quote from his homily that is particularly relevant, “Tonight we acquire a fundamental right that can never be taken away from us: the right to hope. It is a new and living hope that comes from God. It is not mere optimism; it is not a pat on the back or an empty word of encouragement, with a passing smile. No. It is a gift from heaven, which we could not have earned on our own.”

Pope Francis continued, “Over these weeks, we have kept repeating, “All will be well”, clinging to the beauty of our humanity and allowing words of encouragement to rise up from our hearts. But as the days go by and fears grow, even the boldest hope can dissipate. Jesus’ hope is different. He plants in our hearts the conviction that God is able to make everything work unto good, because even from the grave he brings life.”

It was my intention to draft a message of hope for all of my fellow seniors. As I pondered what to say and prayed for guidance, I reread the entire text of Pope Francis’ homily and felt that I could add very little to the power and beauty of his message.

Below is the entire homily. I urge you to read it. Pray on it. Reread it when you need a boost. Share with your loved ones. Let the message of hope resonate to all around you.

You and your family are in my prayers. God bless you!

Pope Francis’ Homily at the Easter Vigil      April 11, 2020 St. Peter’s Basilica

“After the Sabbath” (Mt 28:1), the women went to the tomb. This is how the Gospel of this holy Vigil began: with the Sabbath. It is the day of the Easter Triduum that we tend to neglect as we eagerly await the passage from Friday’s cross to Easter Sunday’s Alleluia.

This year however, we are experiencing, more than ever, the great silence of Holy Saturday. We can imagine ourselves in the position of the women on that day. They, like us, had before their eyes the drama of suffering, of an unexpected tragedy that happened all too suddenly. They had seen death and it weighed on their hearts. Pain was mixed with fear: would they suffer the same fate as the Master? Then too there was fear about the future and all that would need to be rebuilt. A painful memory, a hope cut short. For them, as for us, it was the darkest hour.

Yet in this situation the women did not allow themselves to be paralyzed. They did not give in to the gloom of sorrow and regret, they did not morosely close in on themselves, or flee from reality. On the Sabbath they were doing something simple yet extraordinary: preparing at home the spices to anoint the body of Jesus. They did not stop loving; in the darkness of their hearts, they lit a flame of mercy. Our Lady spent that Saturday, the day that would be dedicated to her, in prayer and hope. She responded to sorrow with trust in the Lord. Unbeknownst to these women, they were making preparations, in the darkness of that Sabbath, for “the dawn of the first day of the week”, the day that would change history.

Jesus, like a seed buried in the ground, was about to make new life blossom in the world; and these women, by prayer and love, were helping to make that hope flower. How many people, in these sad days, have done and are still doing what those women did, sowing seeds of hope! With small gestures of care, affection and prayer.

At dawn the women went to the tomb. There the angel says to them: “Do not be afraid. He is not here; for he has risen” (vv. 5-6). They hear the words of life even as they stand before a tomb… And then they meet Jesus, the giver of all hope, who confirms the message and says: “Do not be afraid” (v. 10). Do not be afraid, do not yield to fear: This is the message of hope. It is addressed to us, today. Today. These are the words that God repeats to us this very night.

Tonight we acquire a fundamental right that can never be taken away from us: the right to hope. It is a new and living hope that comes from God. It is not mere optimism; it is not a pat on the back or an empty word of encouragement, with a passing smile. No. It is a gift from heaven, which we could not have earned on our own.

Over these weeks, we have kept repeating, “All will be well”, clinging to the beauty of our humanity and allowing words of encouragement to rise up from our hearts. But as the days go by and fears grow, even the boldest hope can dissipate. Jesus’ hope is different. He plants in our hearts the conviction that God is able to make everything work unto good, because even from the grave he brings life.

The grave is the place where no one who enters ever leaves. But Jesus emerged for us; he rose for us, to bring life where there was death, to begin a new story in the very place where a stone had been placed. He, who rolled away the stone that sealed the entrance of the tomb, can also remove the stones in our hearts. So, let us not give in to resignation; let us not place a stone before hope. We can and must hope, because God is faithful. He did not abandon us; he visited us and entered into our situations of pain, anguish and death. His light dispelled the darkness of the tomb: today he wants that light to penetrate even to the darkest corners of our lives.

Dear sister, dear brother, even if in your heart you have buried hope, do not give up: God is greater. Darkness and death do not have the last word. Be strong, for with God nothing is lost!

Courage. This is a word often spoken by Jesus in the Gospels. Only once do others say it, to encourage a person in need: “Courage; rise, [Jesus] is calling you!” (Mk 10:49). It is he, the Risen One, who raises us up from our neediness. If, on your journey, you feel weak and frail, or fall, do not be afraid, God holds out a helping hand and says to you: “Courage!”. You might say, as did Don Abbondio (in Manzoni’s novel), “Courage is not something you can give yourself” (I Promessi Sposi, XXV). True, you cannot give it to yourself, but you can receive it as a gift. All you have to do is open your heart in prayer and roll away, however slightly, that stone placed at the entrance to your heart so that Jesus’ light can enter. You only need to ask him: “Jesus, come to me amid my fears and tell me too: Courage!”

With you, Lord, we will be tested but not shaken. And, whatever sadness may dwell in us, we will be strengthened in hope, since with you the cross leads to the resurrection, because you are with us in the darkness of our nights; you are certainty amid our uncertainties, the word that speaks in our silence, and nothing can ever rob us of the love you have for us.

This is the Easter message, a message of hope. It contains a second part, the sending forth. “Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee” (Mt 28:10), Jesus says. “He is going before you to Galilee” (v. 7), the angel says. The Lord goes before us. He always goes before us. It is encouraging to know that he walks ahead of us in life and in death; he goes before us to Galilee, that is, to the place which for him and his disciples evoked the idea of daily life, family and work. Jesus wants us to bring hope there, to our everyday life.

For the disciples, Galilee was also the place of remembrance, for it was the place where they were first called. Returning to Galilee means remembering that we have been loved and called by God. Each of us has our own Galilee. We need to resume the journey, reminding ourselves that we are born and reborn thanks to an invitation given gratuitously to us out of love. This is always the point from which we can set out anew, especially in times of crisis and trial.

But there is more. Galilee was the farthest region from where they were: from Jerusalem. And not only geographically. Galilee was also the farthest place from the sacredness of the Holy City. It was an area where people of different religions lived: it was the “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Mt 4:15). Jesus sends them there and asks them to start again from there. What does this tell us? That the message of hope should not be confined to our sacred places, but should be brought to everyone. For everyone is in need of reassurance, and if we, who have touched “the Word of life” (1 Jn 1:1) do not give it, who will? How beautiful it is to be Christians who offer consolation, who bear the burdens of others and who offer encouragement: messengers of life in a time of death!

In every Galilee, in every area of the human family to which we all belong and which is part of us – for we are all brothers and sisters – may we bring the song of life! Let us silence the cries of death, no more wars! May we stop the production and trade of weapons, since we need bread, not guns. Let the abortion and killing of innocent lives end. May the hearts of those who have enough be open to filling the empty hands of those who do not have the bare necessities.

Those women, in the end, “took hold” of Jesus’ feet (Mt 28:9); feet that had travelled so far to meet us, to the point of entering and emerging from the tomb. The women embraced the feet that had trampled death and opened the way of hope.

Today, as pilgrims in search of hope, we cling to you, Risen Jesus. We turn our backs on death and open our hearts to you, for you are Life itself.”

“The more a person loves God, the more reason he has to hope in Him. This hope produces in the Saints an unutterable peace, which they preserve even in adversity, because as they love God, and know how beautiful He is to those who love Him, they place all their confidence and find all their repose in Him alone.”

~Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church

The Senior Side column is written by William L. Clarke, former business executive, professor and senior citizen. He serves as the Associate Director, Senior Adult Ministry for the Office of Formation and Discipleship.  wclarke@archatl.com.  Mary M. Cohen, Consultant in Senior Adult Ministry contributed to this article. mcohen@archatl.com 

If you are new to the “Senior Side” column, you can read future columns in the Georgia Bulletin, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. https://georgiabulletin.org