Our congregational family has asked many times: what is ours to do?  Faced with multiple pandemics– COVID-19, climate change, systemic racism, polarization, the dehumanization of women and migrants,– of course, as an apostolic Congregation, a Congregation with a Mission, we want to know, what is ours to do? We need to feed the hunger and transform structures; we need to participate in politics, so no one is excluded; yes, all of that, but we first need to witness to Hope.

We are living through dark times, of loss, of isolation.  The social and economic evils are draining our spirit.  We know we are called to transcend, that human beings are more than the immediate, the material, the secure.  For this reason, giving witness to hope is probably the most urgent response! 

To witness hope, we first need to find it in ourselves, in the most intimate part of our souls, in that space between inhaling and exhaling. We have to ask ourselves honestly:  How is my hope? Pope Benedict XVI wrote that “Faith is the substance of hope” (Spe Salvi, 10).  It is that simple, that profound. The light of our faith is sharper in the darkness that surrounds us.  To recover hope, we need to believe — believe in the God of life, the God Incarnate among the people, in the God of the present.

Moreover, hope needs company.  Community, accompaniment, and friendship kindle hope.  “No one is saved alone,” Pope Francis reminds us over and over again; human beings need one another. Journeying with, next to, becomes more and more urgent.  Hope is the gift of communion. 

Finally, if our faith nourishes our hope, if accompaniment rekindles it, we will be a people that goes forth [en salida] because there can be no authentic hope unless it goes forth toward others.  Hope creates space for possibility, for humanization, for closeness.  Hope is always active.  Let us meditate on Pope Francis when he speaks of the icon of the Good Samaritan:  “The parable eloquently presents the basic decision we need to make in order to rebuild our wounded world. In the face of so much pain and suffering, our only course is to imitate the Good Samaritan.” (Fratelli Tutti, 67) Admirable contradiction: to have hope, you need to offer it! 

We celebrate the Day of Consecrated Life with our entire Charismatic Family of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.  

Let us celebrate giving witness to Active Hope! 

General Leadership Team

February 2, 2021, 25^th anniversary of the World Day of Consecrated Life

On the header, image by falco from Pixabay.