Monthly Archives: October 2019

Growing in hope

We all have situations in which we wish something were different but we are not in a position to change it by ourselves: our job, finances, health, relationships, etc. In these circumstances we can sometimes become discouraged. It is then that we need to grow in hope, to trust more in God. In this meditation we pray about this important virtue, drawing on Scripture, the Catechism, Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi  and St Josemaria’s book The Way to consider:

  • The nature of hope
  • How God is always with us and will give us what is best
  • How we should know that God is close to us especially when we are suffering
  • How we can grow in hope especially through prayer

Discovering our calling

Jesus told the apostles in the Last Supper that they had not chosen him, but that he had chosen them for a particular mission:  to go out and bear fruit. God has created each individual for a purpose: to fulfil some definite part of his plan for the salvation of all souls. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture. St John Henry Newman, Pope Francis and St Josemaria to see how:

  • God has a particular plan for each of us, which only we can fulfil
  • To fulfil this plan we must first seek holiness, love for God which consists in doing his will
  • If we think ourselves unworthy and incapable, so were the apostles
  • Many great things depend on whether we fulfil the mission God has planned for us