The Jubilee Year continues to unfold. During this grace-filled time, Pope Francis invited us to be “pilgrims of hope.” Hopefully, excuse the pun, we are aspiring every day to exude a hope that does not disappoint. For us priests, it is not just a matter of being “pilgrims” in this movement of hope, but also voices and signs of hope in the name of Jesus Christ.

As we mark the halfway point of this Jubilee filled with events to celebrate and engender hope, it is an opportune time for us to look in the mirror and assess our progress, not just as pilgrims, but as agents of hope. How hopeful are our thoughts, words and deeds? Are our priestly life and ministry anchored and expressed in hope? These are good questions to make as part of our daily self-examination.

Moreover, as we strive to proclaim the joy of the Gospel, it is important that we not lose sight of hope’s critical role. In “A Light in the Night: Meditations on Hope” (released to coincide with the Jubilee), Pope Francis quotes “The Portico of the Mystery of the Second Virtue,” a poem by the French writer Charles Péguy in which the virtues of faith, hope and love are described as sisters who journey together. “Hope, the little one, walks beside her two older sisters, practically unseen. … Yet she, the little one, drags everything along,” Péguy writes. “Because Faith only sees what exists. / And Charity only loves what exists. / But Hope loves what will be. … She is the one who makes the others keep walking. / She is the one who leads them on, / and makes them all work together.”

While hope is “little” and even invisible at times, it remains a big virtue, not just in this time of jubilee but every day in the life of the priest. The faithful count on us to be beacons of hope. The prayers we pray, the Masses we celebrate, the homilies we preach, the confessions we hear, the visits we make to nursing homes, hospitals, prisons and funeral homes are all meant to be moments of hope. Even when there are no words, our presence in a person’s life can be a genuine source of hope.

‘Be strong and take heart’

Some months ago, a retired priest giving a talk to the presbyterate told us, “Gentlemen, we sell hope.” This task is not easy amid the cynicism, sarcasm and pessimism that permeate our culture, especially with fewer priests and increasing needs. Many priests in certain parts of our country work in multiple-parish settings, stretched like never before. Some priests are now charged with the task of closing and merging parishes. It is not always easy to be hopeful in moments of decline. But that is our mission.

In Psalm 31:25, the psalmist says, “Be strong and take heart, / all who hope in the Lord.” There is an inextricable link between the virtue of hope and the human heart. It is important for us priests to know and understand our heart through reflection on and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is the centerpiece of Pope Francis’ encyclical Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”).

When we become intentional in our prayer before the Sacred Heart of Jesus, hope emerges through the presence of Jesus, who journeys with us. Pope Francis acknowledges this in Dilexit Nos, quoting his beloved predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI: “Every person needs a ‘center’ for his or her own life, a source of truth and goodness to draw upon in the events, situations and struggles of daily existence. All of us, when we pause in silence, need to feel not only the beating of our own heart, but deeper still the beating of a trustworthy presence, perceptible with faith’s senses and yet much more real: the presence of Christ, the heart of the world” (Angelus, June 1, 2008). How humbling it is to know that we have been chosen and ordained to bring Christ’s presence, his heart of hope, to the faithful as they continue their pilgrimage and grow in faith and love.

BISHOP DAVID J. BONNAR, editor of The Priest, is bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown.