Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP flung open the shutters of his window to welcome more than 250 English-speaking Jubilee of Youth pilgrims from across the world to Domus Australia pilgrim guest house in Rome. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
This paralleled Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi, where he said “the dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.”
The Sydney Archdiocese, along with the Godsplaining podcast, hosted the “Signs of Hope & Practical Tips” event with the archbishop, Australian Sr Mary Grace SV and other keynote speakers.
Domus Australia was filled with young pilgrims, clergy, and religious from Australia, the US, Croatia, Poland, UK, and other countries.
Archbishop Fisher and Sr Mary Grace spoke of the trials and triumphs throughout Christendom, challenges faced in the world today that oppose Christian hope and succumb to an escapist mentality, and how, as Pope Leo XIV said in his address at the welcoming Mass for the Jubilee of Youth, we are called to be “signs of hope in the world”.
Archbishop Fisher explained how “rather than avoiding suffering, Christian hope acknowledges it; rather than wallowing in suffering, it transforms it”.
After a long winter for the Church in Australia, a “second spring” appears to be upon us, he added.
Archbishop Fisher said that in Sydney, there has been a 26 per cent increase in adult converts to the faith, year-on-year, for five years in a row, as well as an increased number of vocations to religious life and the priesthood.
He noted by the time he retires, the average age of his priests will have fallen by five years.
Sr Mary Grace shared some practical ways to grow in the virtue of hope. She encouraged the pilgrims to expect surprises from God and to rest in his plan for their lives.
She also challenged the current culture of self-care and self-love, explaining how hope allows us to “let go of self-protection and self-reliance, and to let oneself be real, open, and truly loved by him.”
She left the pilgrims with a final thought that “hope is the capacity to live in reality – the reality of his eternal plan of love for you.”
FULL STORY
Signs of Hope event at Domus Australia (By Courteney Hall, The Catholic Weekly)
