March Meeting

We welcomed our spiritual advisor, Fr. Chris Heath, who spoke beautifully on how we can renew ourselves as Pilgrims of Hope. He began by sharing Romans 5:1-5:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access [by faith] to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
He encouraged us to read Pope Francis’ SPES NON CONFUNDIT, Hope does not disappoint  and Pope Benedict XVI’s SPE SALVI which begins; SPE SALVI facti sumus—in hope we were saved. 
Fr. Chris explained that the emotion of hope is not the same as the virtue of hope. We long for spiritual things; union with God who made us in His image. Because our nature is broken, our desires for physical things grow. This can result in us losing our souls. All our hopes should be oriented around our one greatest hope which will not leave us wanting for more.
He said that people who don’t believe in God are people without hope. If you don’t believe in something yet to come, what is the point of life? Without hope, life would be purposeless. 
He suggested that for the Jubilee year of hope that we try to improve in some way; get rid of something bad permanently or do something good and continue it. 
He also gave suggestions for actions that we can take such as offering something up, go on pilgrimage to a holy place (there are several jubilee pilgrimage options locally), be a tangible sign of hope to others, and prayer to name a few.