What a sense of relief! What a breath of fresh air! No more daily melodrama.

Decency is back!
Empathy has returned!
Truth-telling is honored!
Science is being trusted!
Immigrants feel protected!
Racism is not being promoted!
Climate change is being taken seriously!
And a National approach to fighting the Covid Virus is being implemented!

Each, giving us hope for the present and the future.

For hope to reach its fulfillment, the issue of the unborn needs to be addressed by the new Administration. The “rainbow” of life issues is almost complete. Protection of life, from conception to death, from “the womb to the tomb,” as the saying goes, is not yet a reality. True, the Supreme Court is more pro-life than not, but the national conscience is not fully awakened.

In his spiritual classic, “The Spiritual Life” author Adolphe Tanquerey isolates three qualities of hope.

First there has to be an effective desire, a real push of the heart.
Second, there has to be a confident expectation that the object of desire can be reached.
Third, there needs to be a “commensurate commitment of one’s life” to what one desires, in other words, resolute action.

PAGE TWO

Christian action for change is anchored in love: love of God, whose Reign we live to promote, and love of those who do not agree with us. Harsh words do not change minds and hearts.

Stories do. Poetry does. Prayers do. Mutual respect does, or at least has the potential to do so.

Our mission is to promote life in all its forms and to encourage each other in the pursuit of each.

Signs of hope can light our way:

The vaccine
Dr. Fauci is back in favor
Organizations that promote a Culture of Life
The first female and person of color, Vice-President Kamala Harris
Civility and a call for Unity are in the news
Amanda Gorman in all her brilliance
Re-joining the Paris Agreement

What are the signs of hope for you?

Fr. Max Oliva, S.J.
January, 2021