Spe Savi is the encyclical letter on Hope. It is a masterpiece that analyzes contemporary culture and lays out conditions and foundations for a hope-filled future. In a moment of renewal like the one we are currently in, I think it is wise to go back and revisit that encyclical. I write these reflections to you as my family, a spiritual family, my consecrated sisters, my Legionary brothers and all the men and women I have served with in this lay movement, I write these words as a call to my own conscience and attitudes first of all and at the service of whomever else may find them helpful. I am quite literally one more among all the family with no special role or office than the task of renewal that the Church has entrusted to all of us.
Part One: Some Conditions for Hope:
1. Ultimately hope is a theological virtue. It is the reality that God is with us; that God is with me. It does not guarantee any particular problem or circumstance will right itself, but that we face that problem and circumstance together with God who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus transforms us from within.
Spe Salvi #4 Christianity did not bring a message of social revolution like that of the ill-fated Spartacus, whose struggle led to so much bloodshed. Jesus was not Spartacus, he was not engaged in a fight for political liberation like Barabbas or Bar- Kochba. Jesus, who himself died on the Cross, brought something totally different: an encounter with the Lord of all lords, an encounter with the living God and thus an encounter with a hope stronger than the sufferings of slavery, a hope which therefore transformed life and the world from within.
What does that mean? Well until we allow Christ to transform us from within, our attitudes, desires and expectations, our choices and principles for choosing, etc. any change in structures or ways of operating will be short lived. A structure that more fully respects the dignity of every member of our spiritual family and allows participation and subsiderity will do us no good unless each of us in our hearts respects the person under them and at their side to the same degree as the one directing or the benefactor supporting the mission. Jesus identifies Himself with all the members of His mystical body, He ask some to exercises authority, some to provide generously but ultimately we are judged by how we recognize Him in the least among us, Mt. 25:40. For a day, try treating every single member of your community or family with the same deference and awareness you have for the people in your life in positions of authority… you will see how much we are still in need of this interior transformation.
2. Hope is a virtue that needs to be lived personally. The goodness of the future depends on us using our freedom to choose what is good, allowing God to make Himself present in and through us. No one can do it for us and we cannot guarantee that others now or in the future will make that choice.
Spe Salvi #24 Freedom presupposes that in fundamental decisions, every person and every generation is a new beginning. Naturally, new generations can build on the knowledge and experience of those who went before, and they can draw upon the moral treasury of the whole of humanity. But they can also reject it, because it can never be self-evident in the same way as material inventions. The moral treasury of humanity is not readily at hand like tools that we use; it is present as an appeal to freedom and a possibility for it.
What does that mean? Fundamentally I cannot make my choices dependent on the choices of others. I can be inspired by the good, learn from the mistakes, seek good and honest friends to encourage and hold me accountable, but ultimately I need to do what is right no matter what the person above, below or beside me chooses to do. And I need to be accountable for my use of my freedom without excuses or deferring responsibility to someone else. It is important to remember accountability does not preclude mercy; God himself holds us accountable and draws up our faults before our eyes not to condemn but to pour His mercy upon us. As a spiritual family we must do the same, draw out truth and responsibility not to condemn but to offer forgiveness and the possibility of renewed trust. Remember all the parables of the servant left in charge while the Master is on a journey.
3. Institutions of the Movement and structures we establish are necessary but will not make us holy.
Spe Salvi #24 a) The right state of human affairs, the moral well-being of the world can never be guaranteed simply through structures alone, however good they are. Such structures are not only important, but necessary; yet they cannot and must not marginalize human freedom. Even the best structures function only when the community is animated by convictions capable of motivating people to assent freely to the social order. Freedom requires conviction; conviction does not exist on its own, but must always be gained anew by the community.
We need to leave space for human freedom in our communities, in our norms, in our apostolates, in our ways of working. We cannot micro manage, we cannot control. We need to give life and expression to our faith in the human person, starting with the person beside us. We need make ourselves aware of structures that marginalize human freedom and correct them. Conviction can only be lived by those who are free.
4. Freedom always includes the possibility of evil.
Spe Salvi #24 b) Since man always remains free and since his freedom is always fragile, the kingdom of good will never be definitively established in this world. Anyone who promises a better world that is guaranteed to last forever is making a false promise; he is overlooking human freedom. Freedom must constantly be won over for the cause of good. Free assent to the good never exists simply by itself. If there were structures which could irrevocably guarantee a determined—good—state of the world, man’s freedom would be denied, and hence they would not be good structures at all.
What does that mean for us? We have a funny way of thinking; sometimes we think we have definitively opted for holiness, and that certain falls, types of evil, or sins are completely beyond us. Freedom is always freedom. The kingdom is only definitively established in our hearts when we enter heaven. Often we seem to forget that evil is a real possibility within us. That is a very dangerous place to be spiritually. You can think of the Pharisee thanking God for all his good works, or the straining out gnats and swallowing camels, and all the other passages that speak of the Pharisees. Even Peter denied Jesus in a moment of weakness – three moment, in fact. Holiness requires that I always strive upward with the awareness that I hold within myself the possibility of my own betrayal. Sometimes we can distract our conscience with insignificant things we are tuned into and let the weightier commandments slip by us. We can no longer count every penny and dime in our wallets and lose sight of millions of dollars of debt, or confess every critical thought and disregard the sanctity of another’s conscience or vocation. Very few people intend great evil, but our intentions do not define the moral quality of our actions and decisions, and many who intend great good but are over confident in their own goodness become the source of great evil and suffering. Knowing we are truly free, realistically aware of our responsibility for our actions, we can do great things.
