In the course of my Jesuit education, I often heard the phrase “men for others,” popularized by Father Pedro Arrupe and emphasizing the Ignatian values of service and justice. Of course, we are all called to be men and women for others, clergy and laity alike, but I think priests are called to be more. Perhaps you could say we are called to be “hope for others.”

Over the course of my pastoral ministry, I have been more and more impressed by how helpful, often essential, is the message of hope we share, the example of hope we represent for those who are face to face with hopelessness.

I think of the parents I recently stood beside at the hospital bed of their dying daughter, where the need for hope was urgent. It’s not about wishful thinking, empty platitudes or sugarcoating hard truths — it’s about a deep trust that God is moving within us, even when we can’t see it or feel it.

As priests, we’re called to be hopeful for others. But let’s be honest, some days that’s not easy. Maybe at your parish the pews aren’t as full as they used to be before the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s hard not to take it personally. Money is always an issue, and these days it isn’t getting any easier to pay the bills. Personnel issues just keep coming your way, and parishioners can sometimes be selfish. And that’s just a few of the many reasons hope can be hard to come by, much less to share with others.

While hope is easy to lose sight of, it’s only found through careful, consistent cultivation. And we know the essential way to cultivate hope is through prayer, specifically our commitment to the Liturgy of the Hours.

The psalmist chooses hope

The Divine Office joins us to an ancient and venerable custom of profound piety. It also helps us to intercede for the needs of the whole Church and the world. Most of all, it allows us to fulfill St. Paul’s basic command to pray without ceasing (1 Thes 5:17). But the daily recitation of the Psalms does something else essential to our priestly life: It fuels hope.

Over and over again the psalmist chooses hope. Over dangers and distress, amidst conflict and threat of conflict, weighed down by sadness and sorrow, the psalmist chooses hope. The list goes on and on:

• “Wait for the Lord, take courage; / be stouthearted, wait for the Lord!” (Ps 27:14).
• “Taste and see that the Lord is good; / blessed is the stalwart one who takes refuge in him” (Ps 34:9).
• “Why are you downcast, my soul; / why do you groan within me? / Wait for God, for I shall again praise him, / my savior and my God” (Ps 42:6).
• “You are my hope, Lord; / my trust, God, from my youth” (Ps 71:5).
• “For he commands his angels with regard to you, / to guard you wherever you go” (Ps 91:11).
• “My help comes from the Lord, / the maker of heaven and earth” (Ps 121:2).

As our basic daily prayer, the Psalms help us choose hope over and over again, day after day. In fact, they can fuel our hope and help us be men for hope for others.

Pope Benedict XVI said, “The one who has hope lives differently” (Spe Salvi, No. 2). That’s our call as priests — to live differently. To be sources of hope for others, clearly, consistently and compellingly pointing people to Jesus, the source of real hope. 

FATHER MICHAEL WHITE is pastor of Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Maryland, and co-author of “Rebuilt Faith” (Ave Maria, $18.95).