Back in 2012, the global church celebrated the Year of Faith. This special year of grace was proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI to the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. To quote the Pope, “The Year of Faith…is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Savior of the world. In the mystery of his death and resurrection, God has revealed in its fullness the Love that saves and calls us to conversion of life through the forgiveness of sins” (cf. Acts 5:31).1
The Diocese of Harrisburg had a unique perspective on this Holy Year. At the time, The Catholic Witness reached out to the parishes asking for names of individuals who illustrated how to live lives of faith and service to their local community. The list of individuals was varied and diverse. They were men and women who spent long hours serving their local Church and building the Kingdom of God here in the Harrisburg Diocese. It was my privilege to interview several of these individuals. Every edition throughout that year highlighted one of them! It was truly edifying not only to read about these faith-filled individuals, but most importantly, to interview them. I can remember that in the midst of one of the interviews, the person said, “Why are you highlighting my work for my parish? I do things that are so commonplace that I never thought anyone would even think of it as extraordinary!”
I am reminded of this series as I continue writing about the Jubilee Year of Hope. Pope Francis wrote, “We know well that the great commandment the Lord Jesus left us is the one about love: to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves; namely, we are called to love, to exercise charity. And this is our loftiest vocation, and it is also tied to the joy of Christian hope. One who loves has the joy of hope, of reaching the encounter with the great love that is the Lord.2 … In the Christian life, we are called to spread hope by supporting and encouraging one another. May we always live in harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, and may we do so with strength provided by the Lord, who is our unfailing source of hope, always and forever.”3
I am struck by the saying, “One who loves has the joy of hope” in the paragraph above. There are countless individuals who work tirelessly and hidden within our parishes in the Diocese. They are the true evangelizers not only of faith but also of hope. I want to personally thank the Bobs, the Susans, the Marys, the Jims, the Carolines and the numerous others whose names are only known to God who give of themselves over and over again to share the hope that God bestows on them, to share the love that God graciously pours out to them. These are the pilgrims of hope! Hidden, unseen, unheard or unrecognized individuals who do their daily tasks with their hearts centered on God. In our society, we are inclined to avoid being hidden. We want to be seen and acknowledged; but as we do so, we lose touch with our life source: God. Being hidden and enfolded in God’s humility is the true source of hope, joy and the place where we bring Christ into the world.
In this Jubilee Year of Hope, joyfully sojourn down your individual path to discover how to truly love like God and to learn what true hope is all about! Travel on, my pilgrim friend!
1 https://www.stjames-cathedral.org/liturgy/yearoffaith/yfabout.aspx#:~:text=The%20Year%20of%20Faith%20begins,concludes%20on%20November%2024%2C%202013.
2Pope Francis. On Hope. LOYOLA Press, 2018. Pg.93.
3Ibid, pg. 97
By Sister Geralyn Schmidt, SCC, Special to The Witness
