Greetings friends,
We are Easter people! As such, we remain steadfast in our hope for building the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Pope Benedict, in his encyclical Spes Salvi (Saved in HOPE), shared the story of St. Josephine Bakhita as a profound witness to what it means to live one’s life imbued with a faith filled HOPE. On Easter Sunday, our beloved Pope Francis, in his final Urbi et Orbi (statement to the city and to the world), brought us so many messages of HOPE:
“The resurrection of Jesus is indeed the basis of our hope. For in the light of this event, hope is no longer an illusion. Thanks to Christ—crucified and risen from the dead—hope does not disappoint! Spes non confundit! (cf. Rom 5:5). That hope is not an evasion, but a challenge; it does not delude but empowers us.” *
HOPE was definitely on the mind and in the heart of our beloved “Papa” in his final days. What a beautiful gift he left with us! I cannot think of anything we need more right now in this world. It does not escape me that it is in this spirit that we live our lives here at St. Bakhita House. There is so much HOPE in this community of women. Two women are approaching their two-year mark in July and one of these two will join the Catholic Worker’s living on the third floor. We just celebrated the one-year anniversary of another woman living in community here. She is in our Dorothy Day book study and HOPING to join our third floor Catholic Workers when she hits the two-year mark. These beautiful women are stepping into the world filled with a new-found hope knowing their dignity and knowing that they are loved.
Without hope, we give up. We cannot give up. Not on these women and not on our world. In the fullness of time God wins. Love wins. HOPE wins. So, let’s keep these three in our hearts and minds always.
In hope,
Anne
