In his daily Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, His Holiness Pope Francis explained “hope” with the image of a pregnant woman waiting for her child to be born. Hope, he said, is not something abstract. Hope instead means living in expectation of the concrete encounter with Jesus. And wisdom consists in being able to rejoice in the “little encounters of the life with Jesus.”
As reported by Vatican news, The Pontiff remarked that “Living in hope is journeying towards a reward, yes, toward a happiness that we do not have but we will have there. It is a difficult virtue to understand. It is a humble virtue, very humble. It is a virtue that never disappoints: if you hope, you will never be disappointed. Never, never. It is also a concrete virtue. “But how can it be concrete,” [you ask,] “if I don’t know heaven, or what awaits me there?” Hope, our inheritance which is hope directed towards something, is not an idea, it is not being in a good place… no. It is an encounter. Jesus always emphasizes this part of hope, this living in expectation, encountering.”
In conclusion, His Holiness Pope Francis emphasized once more that the word “identity” refers to our having been made one community; and the inheritance is the strength of the Holy Spirit that “carries us forward with hope.
