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Finding Joy Retreats

Dare to Hope

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Section One: Who is St. Thérèse?...……......…3

Section Two: Preparing to Receive Hope……..5

Section Three: What is Hope?.…..……….......8

Section Four: Hope in Suffering………..…..16

Section Five: Hope in Sacred Scripture……..19

Section Five: Tools for Sharing Hope…...…..23

Section Six: St. Thérèse on Hope…..……….29

Table of Contents

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Suggested Books about Hope

- Benedict XVI, Saved in Hope

- Péguy, Charles, The Portal of the Mystery of Hope

- Thérèse of Lisieux, Letters of St. Thérèse of Lisieux,

volumes I and II.

- Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography

of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

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Notes

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Section One

Who is St. Thérèse?

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Who is St. Thérèse of Lisieux?

“Even now I know it: yes, all my hopes will be fulfilled... yes... the Lord will work wonders for me which will surpass infinitely my immeasurable desires.”

These are the words of Thérèse of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun called the “Little Flower,” who was born into a devout Catholic family in 1873. Despite entering a cloistered convent at the age of 15 and dying nine short years later, Thérèse is one of the most popular Saints of the Catholic Church. Thérèse was canonized in 1925, and in 1997 Pope John Paul II proclaimed her the third female Doctor of the Church.

A Doctor of the Church is a Saint who made a significant contribution to theology or doctrine through their research, study, or writing. Thérèse’s autobiography, The Story of a Soul, blesses the Church with her spirituality, also known as ‘The Little Way.’ With child-like simplicity the Little Way helps us focus on what matter most: Jesus’ love for us, hope of spending eternity with Him, and spreading His love and hope to others.

Thérèse’s lived each day with an unshakable confidence in God's love. "What matters in life," she wrote, "is not great deeds, but great love." Therese lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love. She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Always trusting in God’s unending love for her makes Thérèse a model for the virtue of hope.

While The Little Way may sound tender and delicate, it is actually bold and courageous. Her faith, truly heroic, wasn’t expressed in grand ways. Everything she did in her cloister was done with magnanimity of heart rather than grandiosity. That’s quite possibly why she is one of the most beloved saints of all time – because she lived a very ordinary life, yet her soul exuded incredible fortitude, perseverance, patience, and – indeed, charity.

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Notes

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Notes

5

Section Two

Preparing to Receive Hope

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Preparation for Hope

Since the virtue hope is trusting in the goodness of God, we can prepare ourselves to receive hope by learning from St. Therese. One of the great images that helped Therese hope in the love and goodness of God was the love and goodness of Therese’s own father. Louis Martin was a gentle, holy man who demonstrated to his whole family the love of God the Father. For one example, Therese describes the love of her father in a letter to one of her sisters: “Coming on our dear little Father’s name, I very naturally recall certain happy memories. When he came home I used to run and sit on one of his boots; then he would carry me in this way all around the house and out into the garden. Mama said laughingly to him that he carried out all my wishes; and he answered: ‘Well, what do you expect? She’s the Queen!’ Then he would take me in his arms, lift me very high, set me on his shoulder, kiss and caress me in many ways.” This was Therese’s preparation for hoping in God the Father. We can learn from her. There are perhaps two attitudes we can learn from Therese to grow in hope of God’s goodness: humility to be led & the confidence to ask.

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My Hope by St. Therese of Lisieux

Though in a foreign land I dwell afar, I taste in dreams the endless joys of heaven. Fain would I fly beyond the farthest star, And see the wonders to the ransomed given! No more the sense of exile weighs on me, When once I dream of that immortal day. To my true fatherland, dear God! I see, For the first time I soon shall fly away.

Ah! give me, Jesus! wings as white as snow, That unto Thee I soon may take my flight. I long to be where flowers unfading blow; I long to see Thee, O my heart’s Delight! I long to fly to Mary’s mother-arms, — To rest upon that spotless throne of bliss; And, sheltered there from troubles and alarms, For the first time to feel her gentle kiss.

Thy first sweet smile of welcoming delight Soon show, O Jesus! to Thy lowly bride; O’ercome with rapture at that wondrous sight, Within Thy Sacred Heart, ah! let me hide. O happy moment! and O heavenly grace! When I shall hear Thee, Jesus, speak to me; And the full vision of Thy glorious Face For the first time my longing eyes shall see.

Thou knowest well, my only martyrdom Is love, O Heart of Jesus Christ! for Thee; And if my soul craves for its heavenly home, ‘Tis but to love Thee more, eternally. Above, when Thy sweet Face unveiled I view, Measure nor bounds shall to my love be given; Forever my delight shall seem as new As the first time my spirit entered heaven.

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St. Thérèse Quotes on Hope

“I do not well see what more I shall have in Heaven than now. I shall see the good God, it is true; but as to being with Him, I am wholly with Him already upon earth."

“Even now I know it: yes, all my hopes will be fulfilled... yes... the Lord will work wonders for me which will surpass infinitely my immeasurable desires.”

“And do you not think that on their side the great Saints, seeing what they owe to quite little souls, will love them with an incomparable love? Delightful and surprising will be the friendships found there - I am sure of it. The favored companion of an Apostle or a great Doctor of the Church, will perhaps be a young shepherd lad; and a simple little child may be the intimate friend of a Patriarch. Oh! how I long to dwell in that Kingdom of Love…”

“What is that life which will never have an end?...Jesus will be the Soul of our soul. Unfathomable mystery! "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man what great things God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9). And this will all come soon - yes, very soon, if we ardently love Jesus. “

“Life is passing, Eternity draws nigh: soon shall we live the very life of God. After having drunk deep at the fount of bitterness, our thirst will be quenched at the very source of all sweetness. “

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Preparation for Hope

Humility to be Led: Therese imagined herself as a child before God, and we should do the same. As a child, we need the humility to be led by our God, God the Father, whose goodness is infinite. Humility is recognizing our smallness before God, and that God has a good and loving plan for each of us. Like Therese, we need to be humble and be willing to be led by God, where He will lead us.

Confidence to Ask: the humility to be led is only one half of the prep-aration for receive hope. Therese also knew how much God the Fa-ther loved her, and that she could confidently ask many things of Him. Therese knew that God wanted her to ask for good things from Him, and He wants us to do the same. The confidence to ask increase our hope because God tells: “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For every-one who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for eve-ryone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Mt. 7:7-11)

Humility to be Lead Confidence to Ask

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Section Three

What is Hope?

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Section Seven

St. Thérèse on Hope

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Testimony of Hope Elements of a Good Testimony (CAST)

When telling your story, keep these four important elements in mind:

Concreteness- The audience is given “handles” to the testimony. Experiences, places, and persons are described accurately and unambiguously, yet without obsession over detail. The turning point (how one came to know Jesus Christ) is identifiable and specific, even if it is just one of many turning points. The person giving the testimony comes across as real and ordinary.

Accessibility- The experiences are described in such a way that the audience can relate to or understand them. The language chosen is free from religious terms and dense terminology that could separate the speaker from the audience, like “sin,” “tabernacle,” and “Eucharistic adoration.”

Simplicity- The “plot” or “thread” of the testimony is clear and easy to follow, without confusing tangents and elaborate details. Jesus Christ is at the center of this testimony. He is its hinge.

Thematic Structure- There is one overarching theme or analogy. Every point of the testimony should in some way be related to this single theme.

(Excerpts from Focus Ministries: Fellowship of Catholic University Students)

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Hope is trust in the goodness of God,

and the help of His grace, in this life,

leading us to heaven.

The Foundation of Hope

Since our trust in the goodness of God is attacked so much in our world, we each need to be reminded often of why we hope in God’s goodness. St. Teresa of Avila, the founder of the discalced Carmelites and St. Therese’s namesake, would often say a short phrase to remind her of the foundation of hope:

“God is all-powerful, and He loves me!”

This phrase, this truth, is the foundation of our hope in God’s goodness. Like St. Teresa, we need to remind ourselves of this truth and repeat it to ourselves on a daily basis. As we reflect on hope and continue to ask God to give us the virtue of hope, let us briefly explore the two parts of this statement.

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“God is All-Powerful…”

The first part of the foundation of the virtue of hope is God’s power. Your God is all-powerful. Scripture tells us that He created all things out of nothing, that He guides all creation and that His power brought you, and each of us, into existence. All this sounds wonderful, but why don’t we meditate on two specific examples of God’s power in order to convince us in a greater way.

First, in the book of Genesis, we hear about God creating the whole universe: the heavens, light and darkness, the sea and fish, the land and animals and all things that ever came to be. Right in the middle of that creation account, the author says an off-handed line: “and the stars” (Gen 1:16). God created all things…and the stars. This is almost funny. “And [God created] the stars.” But let us seriously ask the question: how many stars are there? The number of stars in a galaxy varies, but assuming an average of 100 billion stars per galaxy means that there are about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that's 1 billion trillion) stars in the observable universe! To put this number into a visual way, if every star was a grain of sand, and those grains of sand were made into a sandcastle, that sandcastle would be five miles long, five miles wide and five miles high! Your God, who is in charge of your life, made the stars!

Our second example of God’s power comes from the resurrection of Jesus. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you” (Rom 8:11). Just think about what this passage is saying: the power of God, the power that can raise a dead body back to life, is in you through the Holy Spirit! Death to life. Take a moment and think of your problems, perhaps illness, family issues, job struggles, various sins. Now compare solving those problems to the problem of raising a tortured, broken, bloody dead body to life again. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you. God is all-powerful, and He wants us to trust in that power. Change is possible. Your future is governed by God, and this is truly good news! Remember: God wants us to hope in the power of His goodness which created the stars and raised Jesus from the dead!

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Testimony of Hope

Act 1: My life before I knew Jesus Christ

What kind of a person was I socially, spiritually, and emotionally?

Introduce a unifying theme to the testimony (for example, a familiarity with Christ but no personal knowledge of Him, loneliness in college, spiritual hunger, or the Fatherhood of God). Paul’s unifying theme is his devotion to Judaism.

Act 2: How I came to know Jesus Christ

What happened? Even if the conversion was gradual, the testimony should still have one concrete moment or turning point for the audience to grasp.

If other people were involved in bringing about the conversion, take care to make sure this section is Christ-centered and not agent centered.

Avoid any over-dramatization. God’s work in our lives is not always easy to express. Consider how you can organize your story so that people will understand what you have been through and who God is.

Act 3: My life in Jesus Christ

What changes have occurred in my life? How am I living my relationship with Jesus?

Be especially careful here about the language you choose. Avoid using loaded words and phrases that could separate you from people who are not familiar with them, such as “follow the Spirit,” “indwelling of the Trinity,” “vocation,” “sacraments,” and “dark night of the soul.”

Avoid extremes. Try hard not to come across as a perfected saint. At the same time, don’t dwell on struggles and failures.

Act 4: The challenge and invitation to the audience

Ask the audience, implicitly or explicitly, “How will you respond to Jesus Christ?”

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Testimony of Hope Vision: Why Do I Need to Think about My Own Testimony?

Every Christian should have a memorized and a written testimony. The testimony is a powerful yet simple tool. Your task, if you choose to accept it, is to prepare a testimony that is three to five minutes long. Practice it with a disciple, other Christians, and eventually non- Christians. Later on, you can find ways to give a longer testimony of 10 to 20 minutes, suitable for larger audiences, and even a 30-second testimony to use in shorter conversations.

Ultimately, this is exactly what you are doing in a testimony. Psalm 71:15 says, “My mouth will tell of your righteous acts; of your deeds of salvation all the day.... Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.” As Christians, it is imperative that we are able to tell others about Him. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you.”

Testimonies are crucial, not only for telling others about God, but also for reminding yourself of what the Lord has done in your own life. Memorizing your testimony and being able to share it with others will reaffirm your own experience and provide an easy way to introduce others to Christ.

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“And He Loves Me!”

Not only is your God all-powerful, but He loves you! As Saint John says, “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8). Let’s take a moment to think about what this means. God, the One who created all the stars and raised Jesus from the dead, literally is love. He is love, and He cannot do anything aside from love. “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!” (Ps. 139: 13-14). And, since God is, was, and ever shall be, His love will never end!

But, to understand God’s love only on a universal level is to miss the fullness of God’s love! God loves you individually, as if you are His only child. This is difficult to understand because, whether you realize it or not, you are constantly at war with an enemy who wants to make you doubt God’s love for you.

The enemy, also known as the devil and his demons, are so jealous of God’s love for you that they are constantly trying to make you doubt God’s goodness. Through the envy of the Devil, death entered the world (Wis. 2:24). That’s right, God love you SO MUCH that it caused His closest angel to be envious and rebel against Him. That envy continues today, and the enemy is consistently prowling for an opportunity to make you doubt God’s identity (His Love and Goodness), and your core identity (a Beloved Child of God). Review the next two pages as a tool to separate the God’s Truth from the Devil’s lies.

The Good News is that you have been rescued! Your Savior has come, and His name is Jesus Christ. Jesus came to the earth to fight for you! He took on human flesh so that you can be freed from the lies of the enemy! The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8). You cast out the lies of the enemy every time you remember the Truth; that Jesus loves you and knows that you are worth fighting for.

Often, especially in times of darkness and suffering, it is difficult to remember Jesus’ love for you. In these times, use St. Thérèse as an example of ‘holy stubbornness.’ Cling to the Truth with a fierce, bold, child-like confidence, that God is all-powerful, and He loves me!

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God’s Truth World/Devil’s Lies

Encouragement – Even when

confronting our sins, God’s voice

is always encouraging, promising

help and reassuring us of His love

Discouragement – This is never

from God. Whether it is about

ourselves, our worth, our future,

or our sins, discouragement is a

lie

Gentleness – God’s voice and

commands are always gentle

Accusation – Jesus calls the devil

“the accuser,” and that tells us

about how the devil works in our

minds; he accuses!

Peace – “For God is not a God of

confusion but of peace” (1 Cor.

14:33)

Anxiety – This lie often attacks

when we think about the future or

when we try to control our life.

God will take care of you! Trust

Him!

Hope – “May the God of hope fill

you with all joy and peace in

believing, so that you may abound

in hope by the power of the Holy

Spirit” (Rom 15:13).

Despair – This lie convinces us

that either God will not help us or

cannot help us. Either option is

objectively false!

“God will help me.” – If you ask,

God will help you! “This bad situation will never

change.” – The Devil often traps

us with the thought that a bad

situation will last forever. It

won’t.

“God loves me, even in my sin.”

– “For you love all things that

exist, and detest none of the

things that you have made” (Wis.

11:24)

“God won’t love me, unless I’m

perfect and sinless.” – “God

shows his love for us in that while

we were still sinners, Christ died

for us” (Rom 5:8)

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Proclaiming Our Hope

Brief Explanation: the first minute is a minute of vulnerability. Share with someone your greatest challenge, or the greatest current challenge, of your life. Perhaps the losses you have experienced, the hurts or wounds you’ve endured, the anxiety you feel. This is so hard, but vulnerability has power to change lives! The second minute explains how Jesus has impacted your life. This does not have to be a big story but can be a small moment or event that shows, in real and sincere way, Jesus’ love and peace in your life. This is moment really shows your hope in Jesus. Lastly, the third moment let’s people know that we can give thanks to God in the most difficult of circumstances. Gratitude is powerful. Gratitude opens our hearts, opens the hearts of others and opens the heart of God.

Remember: pray about your “three minutes,” practice it with friends and with God, and carry your story with you wherever you go!

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Proclaiming Our Hope

Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and

reverence. 1 Peter 3:15-16

Hope is something both received by us and given from us to others. Once we have received hope in our prayer, the sacraments, scripture and holy friendships, we have the obligation to tell others about the hope given to us. We need to proclaim our hope in Jesus Christ. This is very scary for us as Catholics, but we have many tools to help us, most especially our story. The story of our encounter with Jesus Christ and the power of His Cross can move hearts and bring other people experience the hope found in Jesus. Though there are many ways to give a defense of our hope, here is one powerful way to share our hope called “the three minutes of power.” This method, taken from Hard as Nails Ministry, has three parts:

First: share your “cross” – your greatest

challenge (one minute)

Second: Share what Jesus has done for you

and why you live for Him (one minute)

Third: Share what you are grateful for (one

minute)

The Result: Your Three Minutes of Power

will bring hope to a hurting world.

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God’s Truth World/Devil’s Lies

Trust in God’s Goodness/Plan –

Even when the future is unclear,

God wants good things for you,

even in suffering

Doubt in God’s Goodness/Plan

– Doubt in God’s goodness is

always a lie

Joy – “Joy is the infallible sign of

the presence of God.”

Sadness – Life may make us sad,

but God’s will is to raise us out of

sadness

Unity/Friendship/Community –

Jesus says to us: “For where two

or three are gathered in my name,

I am there among them” (Mt.

18:20)

Isolation – Satan literally means

“divider” or “isolator,” therefore

whenever you feel this way, run to

God and to a friend!

Prayer – Pray always, even in the

midst of sin. You are never

unworthy to pray, and God wants

to help you especially in hard

times

“God won’t listen to your

prayers.” – This is vicious lie!

Reject it and pray!

Jesus to You: “I am with you

always!” – Whenever you feel

alone, lonely or sad, pray and ask

Jesus to be with You.

Loneliness – Remember: the devil

and the world try to make us feel

alone, and it’s a lie!

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The Virtue of Hope

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1817-21)

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful" (Heb 10:23). "The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life"(Titus 3:6-7).

The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

Christian hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin and model in the hope of Abraham, who was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice (cf. Gen 17:4-8; 22:1-18). "Hoping against hope, he believed, and thus became the father of many nations" (Rom 4:18).

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Section Six

Tools for Sharing

Hope

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My God, I hope, with a firm confidence, that You

will give me your help in this world. Your infinite

goodness is always available to me to assist me in

this life, and to lead me to the glory of heaven.

Thank you for Your promise that, if I cling to You

in prayer and love my neighbor, I will share in

eternal happiness with You.

Make an Act of Hope

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The Virtue of Hope

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1817-21)

Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus' preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the "hope that does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5). Hope is the "sure and steadfast anchor of the soul . . . that enters . . . where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf" (Heb 6:19-20). Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of salvation: "Let us . . . put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation" (1 Thess 5:8). It affords us joy even under trial: "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation" (Rom 12:12). Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire.

We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will (cf. Rom 8:28-30; Mt 7:21). In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end (Mt 10:22)" and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for "all men to be saved" (1 Tim 2:4). She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven:

Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end. (St. Teresa of Avila)

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Section Four

Hope in Suffering

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Praying for Hope

Here are some suggested scripture passages to pray with, but feel free

to pray with any others you find hopeful and creates confidence in

God’s goodness in your life and the lives of those you love

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom 15:13)

The Lord declares:

“Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

Jesus spoke to His disciples: “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world, you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33)

Hope in God; for I shall praise him still, my savior and my God. (Psalm 42:11)

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “By waiting and by calm you shall be saved; in quiet and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7)

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Praying for Hope

One of the greatest ways to grow in the virtue of hope, that trust in the goodness of God for us, is to pray with Sacred Scripture. St. Paul tells us in the Letter to the Romans: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Rom 15:4). What does this mean? St. Paul is telling us that everything written in Scripture, in the Bible, is written to give us hope in the goodness of God! Everything in the Bible can give us true hope in Jesus Christ!

In order to receive this hope, we need to really pray with Scripture. Praying with scripture involves meditating upon it. Pondering the words of God. Chewing on them in our minds and hearts. Here is a simple way to pray with the Words of God in order to receive hope: 1) ask the Holy Spirit to come and give you hope: “Come Holy Spirit and please give me hope in the Word of God.” Repeat that prayer several times if it helps you focus. 2) Then simply read a passage of Scripture several times, slowly, prayerfully. Allow the words to enter into your mind and heart. 3) Lastly, be silent and prayerfully sit with God in those powerful words. Be silent. Allow God to speak to your heart with His words of hope.

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Hope in Suffering

When we inevitably encounter suffering in our lives, it is important to cling to the hopeful promises of Christ. We find these in Scripture as well as in the words of St. John Paul II.

“God did not make death,

nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.

For he fashioned all things that they might have being,

and the creatures of the world are wholesome.”

Wisdom 1:13-14

“But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,

and they who are allied with him experience it.”

Wisdom 2:24

“Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.”

Romans 5:12

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St. John Paul II - On the Meaning of Suffering

“Within each form of suffering endured by man, and at the same time at the basis of the whole world of suffering, there inevitably arises the question: why? It is a question about the cause, the reason, and equally, about the purpose of suffering, and, in brief, a question about its meaning. Not only does it accompany human suffering, but it seems even to determine its human content, what makes suffering precisely human suffering.

It is obvious that pain, especially physical pain, is widespread in the animal world. But only the suffering human being knows that he is suffering and wonders why; and he suffers in a humanly speaking still deeper way if he does not find a satisfactory answer.” (9)

“As a result of Christ's salvific work, man exists on earth with the hope of eternal life and holiness. And even though the victory over sin and death achieved by Christ in his Cross and Resurrection does not abolish temporal suffering from human life, nor free from suffering the whole historical dimension of human existence, it nevertheless throws a new light upon this dimension and upon every suffering: the light of salvation.” (15)

“Precisely by means of his Cross he must strike at the roots of evil, planted in the history of man and in human souls. Precisely by means of his Cross he must accomplish the work of salvation. This work, in the plan of eternal Love, has a redemptive character.” (16)

“Down through the centuries and generations it has been seen that in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace. To this grace many saints, such as Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Ignatius of Loyola and others, owe their profound conversion. A result of such a conversion is not only that the individual discovers the salvific meaning of suffering but above all that he becomes a completely new person.” (26)

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Section Five

Praying for Hope with

Sacred Scripture