Pope Leo XIV greets a child from the popemobile as he prepares to lead a Pentecost prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican June 7, 2025, with participants in the Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations and New Communities. CNS PHOTO/LOLA GOMEZ
Where is the hope?
BY DR. JEFF ANDRINI, EVANGELIZATION & DISCIPLESHIP
Are you a glass half-full or a glass half-empty type of person? No matter, I would like you to consider that a “Kingdom of God” perspective can help us all be filled with hope in God.
As we survey the news cycle, talk to friends and family members, and even reflect on our own thoughts, it becomes obvious that our lives are often overwhelmed and messy.
However, as I sat in my backyard this morning praising God for the beauty of the trees and my wife’s amazing flowers, a hummingbird came to our feeder and then flew over to me about two feet from my head. We just looked at each other and I marveled at the gift of creation.
I grew up in a Catholic home in St. Charles, Ill., outside of Chicago. Both my grandparents lived near us, and my parents were very faith-filled people. We gathered with four other families every other Friday for many years for community meal. The parents would pray, sing and read the bible and one parent would join with the kids, and we acted out stories from the bible.
In high school, I was not a big fan and began to drift from the faith. Then our parish hired a full-time youth minister, Frank. He greeted me one week after Masses and shook my hand. He asked what I liked to do. I responded, “play football, wrestle and lift weights.” He said that we were opening a weight room at the Church and asked me to come. After a few invites I did, and he has been a lifelong mentor for me! The weight room was the hook, but his mission was to see me grow as a disciple of Jesus!
While college was a difficult time for me with many pitfalls, Frank prayed, as did my parents. Frank’s prayer was literally, that I would be miserable apart from the Gospel. His wife saw my mom in the grocery store during this time and asked how I was. What do you think my mom said? Oh, De, he is miserable! And I was! Academic probation, drugs and alcohol, poor dating relationships and I eventually hit rock bottom and God broke through. I graduated, spent a year on the National Evangelization Teams (NET) with 120 other young adults and then took a job as a youth minister.
I married Amy, whom I met on my NET team; we had three girls and a boy, all adults now, and we have three grandkids. We look back and see God’s hand blessing us in so many ways! Jesus says, “I have come to give you abundant life.” As we take time to pause in life, to pray daily and reflect often, we see God’s loving plan.
Join me in living the mission of the Office of Evangelization: “To be missionary disciples of Jesus, making present the kingdom of God.” Having a “Kingdom of God” perspective and a personal relationship with the King is our Hope!
Hope in Christ,
Jeff
Dr. Jeff Andrini is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Discipleship. He can be reached at [email protected].
Originally printed in the September 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
