I’m writing this on a sunny summer day, but no matter what the weather, life can seem gloomy sometimes. The hope we had yesterday dims and seems to fade farther and farther away. And the void is filled with dread, or resentment, or just…nothing.
Where’s my roadmap back to a future with hope? How can I believe once again that God has plans to take me to himself in glory forever? Pope Benedict’s encyclical, Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope) gives us a roadmap back to security and sanity. It reminds us that hopelessness is based on a lie that our destiny is confusion instead of freedom and joy. It’s based on a lie that this rough patch will never end and the sun will never break through again — but it will, always.
Join me in my local park for a video of some eye-popping cherry blossoms and the hopeful words of Pope Benedict that will help make your day sunny, no matter the weather! If you like the video, click the Facebook icon below and share it!
Love always,
Rose
P.S. If you’re a Catholic woman over 40, you’re invited to the “Future With Hope” conference this October in Arlington VA, where yours truly will be speaking. https://futurewithhopewomen.com/
P.P.S. To grab your very own copy of Spe Salvi, click the image below.
If you purchase, Virtue Connection may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I recommend this book because I believe it will help you grow in hope.
And just for fun — a white-gold-plated “hope” pendant to remind you (and those you meet) that clouds come and go, but the sun shines on!
Tom Roberts
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 1818 caught my attention because it describes hope as a virtue one can aspire to; a job (charity), a path to follow as it were. We are transformed to experience a whole new and perhaps unexpected existence. CCC 1818 reads “Buoyed up by hope, he (she) is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.”