Communicate Hope

In this year dedicated to the Holy Spirit, the 32nd World Day of Communications has for its theme: Sustained by the Spirit, Communicate Hope.” It is indeed a timely reflection in this second year of preparation for the celebration of the great jubilee of the year 2000. All of us are being invited to become communicators of hope in this ever-changing world we live in. And we can only be so if we let the Spirit who dwells in us to take hold of our lives.

One of our sisters has written an article on how to communicate hope especially in these times when the “world needs hope more than ever.” I find her reflection deeply inspiring. Allow me to share with you her thoughts.

“Above other hopes, we need to hope in Someone who is able to answer all the questions in our mind and the longings in our heart. This Someone is Jesus Christ, the sole Savior of the world, who brought the highest hope to humanity. As followers of Christ, we have been taught to hope and diffuse it to our fellow men and women. How can we do this in practice? The following are suggestions about how we can communicate hope to others:

• To communicate hope means to inspire trust; a trust rooted in faith, in the fidelity of God to his promises to humanity through Jesus Christ. People experience solitude, problems, pains, but Jesus Christ has overcome all these and through our own witnessing of hope, others can learn to trust in the midst of their own difficulties.

• To communicate hope means to develop attitudes that foster and manifest trust. It means to establish relationships that show fidelity, trust, mercy and attention to those who need help.

• To communicate hope means to take and carry on one’s responsibilities in daily life, at the same time clinging to our hope in the new creation and in the life to come, the ultimate goal of our existence.

• To communicate hope means to give an answer to those who ask about the reasons why we should hope.

• To communicate hope means to participate fully in the time in which we live, to embrace the miseries of the world and to participate in the merciful Love that heals and redeems.

• To communicate hope means to overcome everything that blocks the Light. It means facing and resolving conflicts and healing wounds that are inseparable parts of life and communicating whatever will help others to believe, hope, love, celebrate, rejoice in the good of others.

• It means to ardently desire with the Spirit, who renews history and brings forth new elements in it. It means sorrow for the past mistakes, looking forward to becoming renewed in a new creation. It means growing in holiness and responding to the demands of the kingdom in obedience to Christ.”

The reflection above is an excerpt from an article written by Sr. Agnes Quaglini on the occasion of 32nd World Day of Communications that was celebrated in Rome and in other parts of the world last May 1998.