Passionist nuns sit outside while reading together at St. Joseph Monastery in Whitesville. COURTESY OF THE PASSIONIST NUNS
Pilgrims of Hope: Christian Hope
Editor’s note: In celebration of the Jubilee of Hope, The Western Kentucky Catholic has launched Pilgrims of Hope, a yearlong blog series inspired by Pope Francis’ Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025: “My thoughts turn to all those pilgrims of hope who will travel to Rome in order to experience the Holy Year and to all those others who, though unable to visit the City of the Apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in their local Churches.” Blog reflections will be written by individuals from across the Diocese of Owensboro, sharing their unique perspectives on the virtue of hope in a world that so greatly needs it.
BY SR. CECILIA MARIA WYNN, CP
It has always struck me that Christian hope is not at all like the colloquial, everyday hope so often bandied about in our lives. With everyday hope, we hope for a promotion, for good grades, for a negative pathology report. “I hope to see you soon!” we write, and “I hope Grandma baked her chocolate-chip snickerdoodle pecan bars for the party!” We hope for a breakthrough in a difficult relationship, for a miracle to save us from eviction, for the gift of conceiving a child… for things to get better somehow, someway. But good as all these hopes are, they are not Christian hope. Christian hope is something stronger, deeper, far wilder.
It’s not just that Christian hope casts its gaze on something else. In fact, it does encompass all of our everyday realities, great and small (yes, even Grandma’s cookies). But in everyday hope, the good lies only in my future as something which may (or may not) come to be. Christian hope, by contrast, gazes upon goodness that is certain, already true and real in my present.
Whence comes the courage of Christian martyrs? Hope.
Whence comes the generous hearts of Christian poor? Hope.
Whence comes the resilience of the widow who has just buried her husband, the patience of the father working three jobs to support his family, the forgiveness of the victim toward her abuser, the perseverance of the addict who falls and gets up again (and again)? All hope.
And hope fills every Christian life with joy, a joy that is otherwise completely inexplicable.
In Christian hope I am able to rejoice even amidst the tears (and years) of loss and disappointment, because I know that one day, God “will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore,” because in fact, He already dwells with me and is making all things new (see Rev 21:4). In Christian hope, I know that His goodness triumphs, that His love is strong, that His mercy endures forever (see Psalm 136). I know, because I know Him who has promised it. Christian hope is about tomorrow, certainly, but it is much more about today. It is a rock-solid confidence in what is truly true. Even though today may be dark and sorrowful, in hope I stand firm and live out of tomorrow’s bliss.
I think sometimes we Christians let our hope become just another version of worldly hopes and dreams, thinking of heaven and salvation as something that we might receive someday. The truth, though, is that we are reborn to a living hope (1 Peter 1:3), an active hope, a hope in a future glory which already reaches into our now. Christ is risen, and we are risen in Him! Hope enables me to live for and out of that resurrection even now in this vale of tears, because through His Passion, death, and Resurrection, our vale is already shot through with bliss.
Sr. Cecilia Maria Wynn is a Passionist Nun of St. Joseph Monastery in Whitesville.
To learn more about the Diocese of Owensboro’s celebration of the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025 visit https://owensborodiocese.org/jubilee-year-pilgrims-of-hope/.
