August 6, 2025

Fr. John Riccardo

Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age—and Sarah herself was sterile—for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore.

All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol (Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19).

The Church is in the midst of celebrating a Jubilee Year of Hope. It was called by Pope Francis to celebrate the 2025 anniversary of the Incarnation of the Lord, the event that forever transformed the future and history of the human race in general and of each one of us in particular. The Incarnation is the momentous, spectacular, and unimaginable event whereby God leapt into time and began to dwell in the womb of Mary of Nazareth. From the moment Mary said, “Yes!” all of history was changed, for God became man to defeat the powers of Sin, Death and the devil, and to make all things new. He did this because, for reasons I simply do not understand, we matter to Him more than we can dare to imagine.

The theme that is attached to this Jubilee invites us, as disciples of Jesus, to be ”pilgrims of hope.” This theme invites us to pray with the reality that God knows what He is doing, has a plan for His creation, and that we are not wandering aimlessly in life but rather headed somewhere. God has created us with an end in mind, and that end is nothing less than to dwell with Him and each other in a new heaven and a new earth (cf. Revelation 21:1-3).

We in ACTS XXIX would gently like to suggest, however, that it is not enough in these days in which we are living to simply be pilgrims of hope. We must also be heralds of hope. We live in the midst of a world that is riddled by fear, division, anger, depression, despair and so much more. As disciples of Jesus, that is, as men and women who have encountered Someone who has entirely changed our lives, who has brought us from darkness to light, we are called to proclaim to those with whom we work, study, play, and live that life is not in vain, that there is a God, and that He is good and knows what He is doing.

The way we use the word hope in our modern world can confuse us with regards to matters of faith. We say things like, “I hope the Browns win the Super Bowl this year.” That’s not hope; that’s wishful thinking. Hope, in contrast, biblically speaking, is reliable, trustworthy, sure. Hope in the modern usage of the word is like a piece of Kleenex — flimsy and thin. In Scripture, hope is like an anchor — solid, firm and very real. Because it’s rooted in God’s actions in history, and above all in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

A thick pall of disbelief has settled upon the world. Can anything pierce it? Yes! A compelling and attractive proclamation of what God has done for us in Jesus, and lives that are different. Different, not perfect. Joyful, hopeful, merciful, forgiving, kind, and more.

Some years back now, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us of these things when we wrote, “A distinguishing mark of Christians [is] the fact that they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well. So now we can say: Christianity was not only ‘good news’—the communication of a hitherto unknown content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not only ’informative’ but ’performative’. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently.”

Let us be intentional in the days ahead to let others see and hear us live and act differently, and let us be eager and ready to tell them why.

Heralds of Hope for a Hurting World

Taming Our Tongues