Witnesses of hope. Sometimes we don’t feel that way, but hope is not just a feeling. We have traveled for years, for decades, on the road of perseverance even if our journey is not yet completed. We have had many lessons about who deserves our trust. Indeed, by God’s infinite mercy, we are witnesses of hope. Yet we continue the journey, dear young people, and we want to walk with you. We can help one another.
We know the limited character of earthly success; we have also failed many times; we know how crushing the burden of failure feels; we have lived a whole lot of life with joy and also affliction and endurance. Through it all we "have not lost hope."
This is not because we are "good at hoping" or have adopted an ideology of optimism. Rather we have found again and again that we are being drawn and carried by Another, who gives us being and life, who shapes our path toward fulfillment. We belong to this Other, not because we deserve or earn this belonging. Rather He has grabbed hold of our lives because He loves us, and in everything He stirs up in our hearts the awareness and capacity to trust in Him.
Sometimes the "lonely" have more inner strength and resilience than you might think. It's because they know they belong to Christ, and they hope in Him. But loneliness can be very hard.
It's beautiful for young people and the elderly to "form a bond of love and prayer" between them. We have been entrusted to one another and we need one another.
I am grateful for the faces of my precious grandchildren. I am grateful that I can spend so much time with them.
