I'm glad to be able to offer this reflection on the 40th anniversary of the Brotherhood of Hope. Throughout our forty years, one of the constant characteristics of our Brotherhood life has been the Lord renewing for us the virtue of hope. As you probably know, the symbol of the Brotherhood is an anchor with the word “hope” emblazoned on it's cross piece, and this image is drawn from the biblical passage of Hebrews 6:19 “Hope is the anchor of the soul,” meaning that amid all of life’s difficulties and storms, Christians are supported from being blown off course because we’re anchored by our hope in the Lord and His faithfulness.
I’ve certainly seen how the Lord has sustained the Brotherhood through many difficulties over the course of the past forty years. Recently Pope Francis in talk he gave on hope likened it to a sail on a ship, meaning that hope not only sustains us in difficulties, but also drives us forward and doesn’t permit us to become sedentary and stagnant. I’ve seen this as well in the life of the Brotherhood. We’ve grown not only in numbers and in our presence in many different dioceses and universities, but also in the maturing of our knowledge of what it is that moves the heart of the Lord and His love for His people.
Pope Francis also spoke about how the Holy Spirit not only makes us capable of hoping, but it also makes us able to be sowers of hope, like Paracletes. The Pope drew this image from St. John Henry Newman who referred to Christians as “consolers in the image of the Holy Spirit the Paraclete— advocates, helpers and bringers of comfort to others. The Pope went on to say, “A Christian sows hope, he sows the oil of hope, he sows the perfume of hope and not the vinegar of bitterness and despair.”
Over these forty years I've seen how the Holy Spirit has asked us to help sow hope in the lives of many people and they in our lives. A hope that's rooted not in the circumstances of life or a mere wish that things would turn out well, but in the confidence of the love and mercy of Christ.
A passage from the book of Lamentations chapter 3 sums up this sense very well:
"I will call this to mind,
as my reason to have hope:
The favors of the Lord are not exhausted,
his mercies are not spent;
They are renewed each morning,
so great is his faithfulness."