Associate Pastor's Press Sts. P&P/Cathedral

Praise the Lord! Morgan Freeman said in Shawshank Redemption, a 1994 movie about a jailbreak, "Hope is a great thing, maybe the greatest of all things." Is he right, or is there something greater than hope? Perhaps faith. Hope is one of the theological virtues (CCC1817) along with faith and charity, but what place does it have in our Catholic lives? St. Paul says in today's second reading, "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all." (I Cor. 15:17) So hope may not be the most vital of all virtues, but it is important. Carl Olson in, This Rock, an apologetic magazine, states, "But man is desperate to reach beyond himself, to find fulfillment beyond this world. Christians should readily pose questions pointing to true hope: Why do I exist? What is the meaning of my life? What am I living for? Is there something beyond the here and now? It is Christian hope, based in the Gospel, that answers man's questions about his ultimate destiny." We can hope in Christ, but we must have faith in Christ. The Christ who gives us a way to be is more than a hope, but a living reality that teaches a way of being; a BE-attitude! (Luke 6) Jesus, we pray for not only the hope of this reality in our lives, but the faith to truly believe in it with faith. Amen. Now & Forever,
Fr. Quinn