Fr. Czar Emmanuel V. Alvarez, OSA
INTRODUCTION
Pope Francis issued the bull of indiction of the Jubilee Year 2025 in Rome last May 09, 2024 during the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. He announced that the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican would be opened on Dec. 24, 2024 and other churches would follow suit. Hence, the Basilica of St. John Lateran opened its Holy Door on Dec. 29, 2024; the Basilica of St. Mary Major opened its Holy Door on Jan. 01, 2025; and the Basilica of St. Peter’s Outside the Walls opened its Holy Door on Jan. 05, 2025. These last three basilicas will close their Holy Doors on Dec. 28, 2025, while that of St. Peter’s Basilica will remain open till Jan. 06, 2026, and this will mark the formal end of the current Jubilee Year.
Jubilees have always been a part of Church tradition since the Middle Ages. It was Pope Boniface VIII who instituted the very first Christian Jubilee Year in 1300. However, the historical and religious roots of such events can be traced back to the time of the Old Testament. Lev 25:8-19 already prescribed that a jubilee year (yôbēl) be celebrated every fiftieth year, counting “seven weeks of years – seven times seven years – that is to say, a period of seven weeks of years, forty-nine years. And on the tenth day of the seven month you shall sound the trumpet … You will declare this fiftieth year sacred and proclaim the liberation of all the inhabitants of the land. This is to be a jubilee for you; each of you will return to his ancestral home, each to his own clan. This fiftieth year is to be a jubilee year for you: you will not sow, you will not harvest the ungathered corn, you will not gather from the untrimmed vine. The jubilee is to be a holy thing to you: you will not eat what comes from the fields ….” Other Old Testament texts elaborate on what should be done and what should not be done during the jubilee year (cf. Nm 36:2-9; cf. Dt 24:19-21; 23:25-26; 15:1; Rut 2; Ex 23:10-11; etc.).
The Jewish celebration of the jubilee year did not only have a religious dimension, but also some significant economic implications. The poor were allowed to gather from any field to satisfy their hunger; debts were written off; slaves were given a chance to be emancipated; alienated properties could be reclaimed; etc. Some religious convictions underlie such practices. For example, the gathering from any field and the return of alienated properties are linked to the idea that the earth belongs to God and cannot be appropriated by any individual. The emancipation of slaves, on the other hand, is linked to the idea that God has rendered all men free when he liberated the Israelites from Egypt (cf. De Vaux: 182). However, scholars doubt if the prescriptions of the jubilee year were ever really put into practice during the Old Testament times. No extra-biblical historical texts confirm it, and even those biblical texts that seem to support it were written at a rather late period. Hence, what the Old Testament says about the jubilee year seems to be an ideal proposal of justice and social order that was never realized (De Vaux: 183).
At any rate, when the Christian Church adapted the Jewish celebration of the jubilee year, it limited its focus on the religious aspect of it. The whole context and ideology was also modified. This time the idea of liberation from sin or forgiveness was underscored, and the ultimate reference became the teachings and examples of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel accounts we find many episodes of liberation on the part of Jesus – liberation from sins, from death and from certain physical impairments.
Pope Boniface VIII’s institution of the Jubilee Year in 1300 was already preceded by many instances when the Church granted forgiveness of sins and indulgences to specific churches and communities (like the Franciscan church in Porziuncula, Italy and the Church of Santiago de Compostela, Spain). In fact, in 1216 Pope Honorius III already granted the plea of Saint Francis for an indulgence for all those visiting the Porziuncula on the first two days of August, while in 1222 Pope Callistus II allowed people to go on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to obtain indulgence. In more recent times, Pope Pius XI declared a Jubilee or Holy Year in 1925; Pope Pius XII did the same in 1950, and Pope Paul VI in 1975. Pope John Paul II declared a Holy Year in 2000, and in 2015 Pope Francis declared an extraordinary Jubilee Year. We are practically just ten years away from our last Jubilee Year celebration.
BULL OF INDICTION
Pope Francis’ bull “Spes non confundit” (which we abbreviate as SNC), “hope does not disappoint” (based on Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans 5:1), is a rather short document (with 25 numbers of uneven length) and is perhaps the least “Franciscan” of his writings so far. We can divide it into seven parts. In the Introduction (nos. 1-4) it provides us with some descriptions of Christian hope. This is followed (nos. 5-6) by a brief history of the Jubilee Year, its fundamental aspect of pilgrimage and reconciliation, and the schedule for the opening of the Holy Door of the various Roman basilicas. In nos. 7-15 the document speaks of different “signs of hope” in the present time. This is followed by some appeals addressed to global communities and to Christians at large (nos. 16-17). The document then briefly presents some objects of hope or what Christian believers should be hoping for (nos. 18-22). The two remaining parts are very brief, containing an exhortation to receive the sacrament of reconciliation and to be concrete witnesses of hope (nos. 23, 25), and a presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as our “Mother of Hope” (no. 24).
The Papal bull defines hope as “the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring” (SNC 1). One hopes when one expects the realization of “ancient promises” (SNC 2). It is something “born of love and based on love” (SNC 3) poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit and, therefore, it “does not disappoint” (SNC 2; cf. Rom 5:1-2.5). It is kept alive in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. “Christian hope does not deceive or disappoint because it is grounded in the certainty that nothing and no one may ever separate us from God’s love” (SNC 3; cf. Rom 8:35.37-39). This can be interpreted in, at least, two ways. Hope does not disappoint because it is born and based on love in so far as it is God himself, who is faithful and does not deceive, who has poured within us the desire (love) to possess the things that he has promised us because he loves us, or because love unites us with God who in turn helps us overcome all adversities of life and move forward with hope even in the midst of tribulations. Hence, “hope perseveres in the midst of trials, founded on faith and nurtured by charity; it enables us to press forward in life” (SNC 3). Hope is also linked to patience, in this case (SNC 4) – patience to endure the trials and tribulations of the present life. “Patience, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, sustains our hope and strengthens it as a virtue and a way of life … [patience] is both the daughter of hope and at the same time its firm foundation” (SNC 4).
After having described what hope is, the document identifies some “signs of hope” in the present time, mentioning at least eight of them – namely, the desire for peace in the face of violence and destruction (SNC 8), the desire to transmit life in the face of declining population among many peoples and fear of parenthood (SNC 9), the desire for freedom, forgiveness, rehabilitation and reintegration, particularly concerning prisoners (SNC 10), the desire for healing, especially on the part of the sick in need of health care (SNC 11), the desire for a bright future on the part of young people (SNC 12), the desire for acceptance and a new home on the part of migrants, displaced persons and refugees (SNC 13), the desire for companionship and understanding especially on the part of the elderly, the lonely and the abandoned (SNC 14), and the desire for a dignified life, particularly on the part of the poor (SNC 15). These natural yearnings of the human heart indicate hope and the need for God’s saving presence (SNC 7).
The Pope also points out some of the objects of hope or things that humanity looks forward to possess at the end of time. He mentions our hope to participate in Christ’s resurrection (SNC 20), our desire to encounter God with optimism on Judgment Day (SNC 22), our longing for eternal life (SNC 19), etc. All of this are ultimately linked to man’s innermost desire for happiness. “Happiness is our human vocation, a goal which we all aspire (SNC 21). They constitute the very goal of our earthly pilgrimage (SNC 20), where we witness an “interplay of hope and patience” (SNC 5). And pilgrimage is “a fundamental element of every Jubilee event” (SNC 5). From this, the document invites us to fully participate in the Jubilee Year, beginning with our desire for purification – hence, the necessity to approach the sacrament of Reconciliation, “the essential staring point of any true journey of conversion” (SNC 5). The Pope exhorts: “Let us not neglect Confession, but rediscover the beauty of this sacrament of healing and joy, the beauty of God’s forgiveness of our sins!” (SNC 23)
The desire for forgiveness and conversion prompted the Church to institute Jubilee Year in 1300 and since then she has declared it on various times along the course of history. All priests are reminded to make the sacrament of Reconciliation available to all faithful during the Jubilee Year (SNC 5). “In this Jubilee Year may no one be deprived of the opportunity to receive God’s forgiveness and consolation” (SNC 23). However, we are reminded that while we seek God’s forgiveness, we must also be ready to forgive others (SNC 23). The Holy Doors of the various churches will remain open throughout the Jubilee Year to give us the possibility to receive indulgence and forgiveness. The very first Holy Door to be opened for the current Jubilee Year was that of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in Rome last Dec. 24, 2024. It will also be the last Holy Door to be closed at the end of the Jubilee celebration on Jan. 06, 2026.
AUGUSTINE ON HOPE
In the entire document, the Pope makes only a couple of references to Augustine (in SNC nos. 3 and 21). However, most of the points he elaborates on echo Augustine’s insights about hope. And we shall focus on such points. Let us just point out in advance that Augustine never wrote a single work specifically on the theme of Christian hope. Even his Enchiridion ad Laurentium de fide, spe et caritate (written probably between 419 and 422, or in 421 – cf. Pebbles, “Introduction”: 357) speaks very little of the theme. In fact, it is more focused on faith and elaborates on its fundamental truths (cf. Ramsey: 12). Bernard Peebles rightly observes: “The Enchridion is a commentary on the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. The Creed is taken as the basis of St. Augustine’s discussion of faith (sections 9-113), while remarks on hope (sections 114-116) serve as a brief exposition of the Lord’s Prayer; the sections dealing with charity (sections 117-121) are at once an appendage and the crown of the whole work” (Peebles: 359). Other writings of Augustine must be considered if one wants to have a more comprehensive understanding of what he has to say about hope. Among such writings we have his autobiography, the Confessiones, some passages from the De civitate Dei, his Sermones, etc. His Enarrationes in Psalmos perhaps are what provide us with the most ample material to work with. There is also a handful of scholars who have written on the theme (see References). We will refer to them from time to time to elucidate on our interpretation of Augustine’s notion of hope.
a. Notion of Hope
Let us start with Augustine’s notion of hope and later see how much Pope Francis’ bull of indiction of the Jubilee Year reflects it. Beginning with the description of faith that we find in the Letter to the Hebrews (11:1) – faith as “the conviction of things unseen”, Augustine says that hope is grounded on “unseen things” or on things revealed to us by faith. Saint Paul elaborates: “Hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what is seen?” (Rom 8:24) We may raise a question in this regard: Is it possible for us to desire (and we shall see later that hope is a kind of desire) things that are “unseen” – that is, unknown to us? We need to distinguish between two things at this point: things that are totally “unseen” (sc. unknown) and things that are “seen” (sc. known) to a certain extent. Following the Augustinian teaching that things that are totally unknown cannot be desired or the object of volition – “No one can in any way love a thing that is wholly unknown” and “no one can in any way love something of which he is absolutely ignorant” (De Trin. 10.1.1; cf. 9.3.3; 10.2.4), we can say that one cannot hope to attain or possess something totally unknown to him. Hope is a kind of desire, a groaning, a longing (cf. En. in Ps. 42.2; 148.1). We hope for something; we desire to possess something. Hence, we can surmise that the object of our hope is something known to us to a certain extent. We perceive it as something desirable – therefore, we want to possess it.
The objects of hope are revealed to us by God in the Scripture. But not all things that we “see” by faith are desirable. Thus, sometimes “we can believe in things for which we do not hope” (Ench. Prologue 8). In other words, there are things that we believe in but we do not want to attain or experience. Augustine cites, in this case, the example of eternal damnation or punishment of the wicked. It is not something we would want to experience. We believe in its existence. However, it is not an object of hope but more an object of fear (cf. En. in Ps. 49.1). At most, we hope not to attain it instead of desiring to positively experience it.
Now, eternal happiness and eternal damnation are examples of things revealed to us by faith. We believe in them; we believe that they will come about at the end of time. We also have some idea of what heaven and hell would be like (based on biblical descriptions of them), but we do not really have a full knowledge of them. This is like our idea of our being children of God. Saint John says: “We are already the children of God, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed” (1Jn 3:2; cited by Augustine in En. in Ps. 49.2) and yet we continue to hope for it. In line with this Augustine says: “What has been promised to you is not visible yet; [but] it is prepared already” (En. in Ps. 39.28). It is like having some glimpse of the future light. “It is not yet for them the light … Some portion of that light is ours, for we are children of God … but this is not the light that will be ours one day” (En. in Ps. 37.15). The phrase “some portion of that light” indicates that what we hope to attain someday is not totally unknown to us. It is something that goes beyond human intellectual comprehension. It is like “hoping above measure”. “What God does is more wonderful than what we ask or understand. It would not be enough to hope for those things. We must hope above measure” (En. in Ps. 118[19].2; cf. 118[20].1; 74.1). Hence, Augustine somewhat qualifies what Saint Paul says in Rom 8:24, in this case.
b. Objects of Hope
Faith provides us with “eyes” to somewhat see things that will happen at the end of time (cf. Sol. 1.6.12-13). God has promised us the possession of some of such things in eternity, and God’s promises constitute the very object of our hope. We repeat that not all things revealed to us by faith are desirable or objects of our hope. We desire only what is good. Augustine says: “Hope is only for good things” (Ench. Prologue 8). Among the good things that man can desire, happiness is on the top of the list. The attainment of true happiness presupposes salvation, everlasting glory, being with God, seeing him face to face, being in his eternal kingdom, etc. Hence, happiness is the ultimate object of our hope. It is that “to which all our hope aspires, so that when we reach it we shall look for nothing further nor ask for anything more” (En. in Ps. 109.1).
To be an object of hope, something must be both good and eternal (Ench. Prologue 8). It goes beyond the present life (cf. Ench. 30.116). He writes: “life will only be truly happy when it is eternal” (De civ. Dei 14.25.25). In this case, Augustine warns us about things we put our hope in. Some put their hope in temporal things alone; others put their hope in eternal things. People behave accordingly. Thus, “the two types of people are mingled together, yes, and live together, certainly, but they are absolutely opposed to one another. The one type attaches all its hope to secular realities and temporal happiness, the other places its hope firmly in the Lord its God” (En. in Ps. 53.7). In the De civitate Dei Augustine further elaborates on this and explains how the former constitute the citizens of the “city of man” (where amor sui prevails), while the latter are citizens of the “city of God” (where amor Dei reigns) (cf. De civ. Dei 14.28 and 14.13).
Note, however, that the pursuit of eternal goods does not automatically exclude the pursuit of temporal goods. Hence, desiring temporal things does not necessarily contradict desire for eternal things. Recently this has been a point of discussion among scholars interpreting the role of hoping in temporal things in believers’ hope in eternal things. Scholars like Peter Iver Kaufman, Michael Lamb, Veronica Roberts Ogle, et al. have been talking about the role of Augustine’s idea of hope in the context of politics that pursues temporal goods. We can say that while the ultimate objects of hope are eternal and attainable only in the afterlife, nothing prevents us from hoping to possess things in the present life that can eventually help us possess God’s promises. The Augustinian distinction between “uti” and “frui” easily comes to mind, in this regard (cf. De doctr. chr. 1.4.4). But the “use” of temporal things of this world is not a mere means to an end, but rather an integral part of it (cf. Lamb, “Augustine on Hope and Politics”: 35).
c. Relationship among Faith, Hope and Love
Going back to the definition of faith as “conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1) and of hope as desire to possess “things unseen” (cf. Rom 8:24), the relationship between the two is not hard to understand. It is faith that informs man about the existence of certain things that one must believe in or accept, some of which – the good ones – become the proper objects of hope. In the present life, we hope to possess specifically what God has promised us. As long as we do not attain such things, we will continue to hope for them. Thus, Augustine says: “The only person who holds out hopefully for something is one who has not yet received what was promised. If one has received it already, why hold out further in expectation?” (En. in Ps. 129.6) In another writing he says: “In this life it is called hope, but in the life beyond it will be realization. It is named hope only as long as its object is not seen …” (En. in Ps. 91.1). “When we believe, we live in this present world in hope; when we see, we shall enjoy the reality in the world to come …. We walk now in faith, not yet by sight” (En. in Ps. 123.2).
Where does love or charity enter in all this? Rom 5:5 reads: “We hope for what we do not yet see; we wait in patience and our hope is not disappointed because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us.” Augustine cites this biblical passage in his En. in Ps. 118(24).4 and elaborates on it. It is love that keeps our desire for eternal things burning. It is also love that keeps us in communion with Jesus and our neighbor and this is necessary in order to keep us hopeful even in the midst of life’s difficulties. Being in communion with Christ is our access to eternal life and happiness. In the present life our hope is nourished by love. Talking about the relationship between Christ and his Body, which is the Church, Augustine writes: “Christ is both head and body and we must not think ourselves alien to Christ since we are his members … Through hope we are with him in heaven, and through charity he is with us on earth” (En. in Ps. 54.3). In other words, love is our access to the realization of our hope. Augustine presents to us the image of a two-winged love that supports hope, enabling it to fly high (cf. En. in Ps. 35.14). The two wings, in this case, symbolize the two dimensions of Christian love – love of God and love of neighbor.
Comparing faith, hope and love, Augustine explains that while we need all three of them in the present life, only love will remain in the end. “Faith is directed to things not seen yet, and once they are seen, it will be succeeded by vision. Hope is focused on things not yet possessed, and once the realization comes, hope will exist no more because we shall not hope for the reality but embrace it, but charity can only go on increasing” (En. in Ps. 91.1). In the meantime, the three must come together. “There is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither love nor hope without faith” (Ench. Prologue 8). Love makes us desire what we hope for; faith, on the other hand, reveals to us the good things that should be the objects of our hope.
d. Hope in the Present Life
Augustine describes the present life as a pilgrimage. People who possess hope are groaning as they travel toward their eternal destiny. “These are the people who groan with longing for the heavenly city … They are on pilgrimage who hold steadily to their road and who, by their desire for that abiding country, have cast their hope ahead like an anchor” (En. in Ps. 42.2). Going on a pilgrimage presupposes an end, a destination. Elsewhere he writes: “The end is where we are going to stay … So now here we all are, engaged in life’s pilgrimage, and we have an end we are going toward. Towards what are we going? Towards our home country. What is our home country? Jerusalem, mother of the faithful, mother of the living!” (Sermo 16A.9) Paul Kuntz qualifies that the type of pilgrimage Christians undertake is an inward journey, a peregrinatio animae. It presupposes the conception that the soul has wandered away from its original home and longs to return to it (Kuntz: 83).
In the present life hope is our source of joy even in the midst of trials and tribulations. We express such joy by singing. Thus Augustine says: “Through our desire we are in Jerusalem already; we have already cast our hope ahead of us like an anchor into that country … Accordingly, anyone who sings in this hope is singing there, in Zion” (En. in Ps. 64.3). He asks: “What are they singing?” and he answers: “They sing for longing. Sometimes they sing in their troubles and at other times. When they are singing in hope, they sing exultantly. Our troubles are part of our life in the present world, but our hope is fixed on the world to come” (En. in Ps. 123.2; cf. 123.3). The early Christian martyrs who bravely faced their death during the time of the persecutions, exemplify such attitude of joy in the midst of life’s most challenging moments. They did not fear; instead they demonstrated bravery, strength and hope in eternal life. Their hope was the cause of their joy. Indeed, “hope necessarily implies joy” (En. in Ps. 145.2). With joy also comes consolation (cf. En. in Ps. 145.7), comfort (cf. En. in Ps. 55.20), patience (cf. En. in Ps. 67.6; En. in Ps. 41.10; 70[1].8; 50.19), perseverance (cf. En. in Ps. 59.5; 138.12; 65.1; 118[15].2; 148.1; De cons. Ev. 10.20), confidence (cf. De civ. Dei 19.21.20), tranquility (cf. En. in Ps. 54.13; 147.3), etc.
“In life, hope never departs from the soul” (Sol. 1.7.14). Hoping presupposes a certain degree of dissatisfaction with the present order of things. From such dissatisfaction, hope for better things is born. Accepting how things are, even if they are bad, is almost like despairing or giving any hope for positive change or improvement. Michael Lamb explains how despair “causes one to hope too little for the right object or too little in another to achieve it” (Lamb, “Augustine on Hope and Politics’: 36). He then asserts that hope as a “virtue” is one way of avoiding the vice of despair. We read in Augustine: “On earth we are wayfarers, always on the go. This means that we have to keep on moving forward. Therefore, always be unhappy about what you are if you want to reach what you are not. If you are pleased with what you are, you have stopped already. If you say, ‘It is enough,’ you are lost. Keep on walking, moving forward, trying for the goal. Don’t try to stop on the way or to go back or deviate from it” (Sermo 169.18). While Augustine talks about perseverance on a more personal level, in this case, we can also apply it to objective reality. Hence, we must not be satisfied with how things are when there is hope of improving them.
AUGUSTINIAN IDEAS IN THE PAPAL BULL OF INDICTION
We said earlier that what Pope Francis says about hope in his bull of indication of the Jubilee Year 2025 reflects much of what Augustine asserts about hope. Let us now present the main convergences of their ideas, at this point.
The idea of hope espoused in the papal bull is very Augustinian in nature. The document defines hope as “the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring” (SNC 1). In our presentation of Augustine’s notion of hope, we have seen that hope refers to a particular desire, groaning, or longing for good things to come. The reference is always to something which we believe will happen at the end of time. Note that we avoid the usage of the term “future” in this case because such term still has some temporal reference. We usually think of time as divided into three states or “parts” – the past, the present, and the future (cf. Conf. 11.17.22; Aristotle, Physics books 4 and 6; Knuuttila: 110-113). Following Michael Lamb’s way of thinking, the realization of the ultimate objects of our hope are expected to take place not in some remote future, but beyond time itself. Just as hope transcends the binary distinction between “optimism” and “pessimism” (Lamb, “Augustine on Hope and Politics”: 31), we also think of it as going beyond the distinction between the past, the present and the future. At most we can speak of an “eternal present”, in this case – an “ever-present eternity … beyond all the future … a simple ‘today’ because your ‘today’ does not give way to tomorrow nor follow yesterday. Your ‘today’ is eternity” (Conf. 11.13.16). Hope points us to something “atemporal”. Thus, we prefer to use the expression “at the end of time” instead of some “future” time. At any rate, both Augustine and Pope Francis think of the objects of hope as something going beyond the present world. They also think of such objects as “good” while not totally and wholly known to the human mind. The expression “good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring” seems to indicate all this.
Augustine and Pope Francis clearly had the biblical notion of hope in mind. Their understanding of what hope is all about can easily be traced to what we read in Rom 8:24, which speaks of things “unseen” – that is, not wholly known to the human intellect or not fully grasped by the human mind. Both also refer to God’s promises as the very source of things that we look forward to. “Ancient promises,” as the papal bull puts it (SNC 2). Among such promises mentioned by both are those of being raised back to life with Christ (SNC 20), eternal life (SNC 19) and happiness (SNC 21). The papal bull, being a short document, does not elaborate on them as much as Augustine does in many of his works. But in the end, both see happiness as man’s ultimate goal and aspiration in life. Pope Francis states: “Happiness is our human vocation, a goal which we all aspire (SNC 21). Augustine, for his part, has written on the same theme, from his early works (such as the De b. vita 10 and 2.10 written in 386/387) up to his more mature works (cf. De Trin. 13.5.8 finished in 422/426). All the objects of happiness are interconnected: resurrection, direct vision of God, being with God, eternal life and happiness, and so on. However, the desire for happiness is the more palpable one and accounts for many of the things that man does even in the present life. Putting one’s hope even in temporal things is motivated by one’s desire for happiness. Aspiration for a better life, better social structures, better interpersonal relationship, etc. is immediately motivated by man’s desire for happiness. It, then, seems to bridge our hope in the present life with our hope in eternal life, where we believe we would attain the full realization of all our hopes.
Still making reference to what Saint Paul says – this time in Rom 5:1-2.5, both Augustine and Pope Francis firmly believe in the reality of God’s promises and their attainability at the end of time. What God has promised us really exist albeit in the afterlife. They are not like dreams that one enjoys while dreaming, only to wake up later to sad reality (cf. En. in Ps. 48[2].5). God is faithful to his promises and he will fulfill them at the end of time (cf. En. in Ps. 35.13; 123.2). In the meantime, he has poured the Holy Spirit into our hearts to keep our desire for eternal things burning (cf. Quaest. XVII in Mt 11.4; SNC 2) and, at the same time, to show us the way to obtain them (cf. En. in Ps. 123.2). It is the same Holy Spirit that produces in us patience, perseverance, joy, and so forth, that we need to face the adversities of the present life. Pope Francis makes an explicit reference to Augustine (SNC 3), in this case, citing his Sermo 198. The papal bull also briefly mentions the relationship between hope and perseverance (SNC 4) and between hope and patience more extensively (SNC 3-5); Augustine elaborates more on it (cf. En. in Ps. 50.19; 67.6; 83.6).
The relationship among faith, hope and love is also mentioned by both. Pope Francis says: “Hope perseveres in the midst of trials, founded on faith and nurtured by charity; it enables us to press forward in life” (SNC 3). As we have explained earlier, for Augustine we “see” the objects of our hope through faith, while our desire to possess them is kept alive in us by love (cf. Sermo 16A.11). However, Augustine goes further to explain how, in the end, only love will remain. Faith and hope serve us only in the present life, but they are destined to pass away (cf. En. in Ps. 91.1). In the meantime, faith must work through love (Gal 5:6) and one does not love unless he hopes. This is one point that Augustine dedicates much time elaborating on. Our access to eternal life is through Christ, who while being enthroned in heaven, is still present in us, thus giving us a chance to be saved through the practice of love (cf. En. in Ps. 55.3; 122.1). Pope Francis seems to summarize all this in a simple affirmation: hope is “born of love and based on love” (SNC 3).
Last Augustinian idea expressed by Pope Francis is that of life as a pilgrimage, presented as “a fundamental element of every Jubilee event” (SNC 5). The papal document talks about it to exhort the faithful to disembark on a purification process and undergo conversion during the Jubilee Year, while Augustine talks about pilgrimage in longer term and in a more encompassing manner. He presents it as an essential characteristic of Christian life in the present world. “We are wayfarers” (Sermo 169.18). It is an inward journey, the soul’s gradual return to God, to our heavenly home (cf. Sermo 16A.9). Along the way we are guided by Christ himself (cf. En. in Ps. 123.2; 60.4), the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn 14:6). Throughout our pilgrimage we are accompanied by hope (cf. Sol. 1.7.14). “Hope must never leave us on this pilgrimage” (En. in Ps. 145.9). Thus, even if we have to pass through life’s difficulties, even if we are groaning for now (cf. En. in Ps. 148.1; 42.2), we are still full of joy and we continue to sing in our hearts (cf. En. in Ps. 67.6; 145.2; 48[2].5), keeping our eyes fixed on the eternal objects of our hope (SNC 20).
CONCLUSION: POSSIBLE APPLICATION
The papal bull, of course, does not simply echo Augustinian ideas. It also has some original ideas of its own. We may mention, in this case, what it says about the different “signs of hope” in the contemporary world (SNC 7-15) and its concrete appeal to global institutions (SNC 16). Such points are presented in the context of modern world situations. Augustine, for his part, tried to address various issues of his time, and at the same time elaborated on what he considered as fundamental truths of the Christian faith. In both instances, Augustine and Pope Francis were conditioned by what they considered as pressing issues of the day. They both tried to apply their own interpretations of biblical precepts and the teachings of the Church to concrete situations, and this is something that we can also do (perhaps in the particular context of the current situation of the Augustinian Order).
a. Hope in addressing vocation crisis
Why talk about hope in the Order today? Why need is there to discuss it? Like other situations in the contemporary world, the Augustinian Order faces many challenges that necessitate Christian hope. We begin with the widespread vocation crisis in the world today. Less people are attracted to religious life. We have a decrease in the number of priests via-à-vis an increase in the number of the faithful to attend to. Based on the newly released 2024 Pontifical Yearbook and the 2022 Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the number of baptized Catholics has increased globally, from 1.376 billion in 2021 to 1.390 billion in 2022, accounting for a 14 million increase (cf. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/04/20/2349190/catholic-church
-grows-139-billion-members-number-priests-shrink). On the other hand, the total number of priests in the Catholic Church decreased slightly, from 407,872 to 407,730. The number of seminarians also decreased by 1.3%. The percentage of decrease in vocation as shown by these statistical data may seem insignificant, not until you compare the rate in the increase in the number of Christians with the rate in the decrease in the number of priests. The two are growing apart – there is an increase in the former and a decrease in the latter. If the situation is not addressed, a ever-widening gap between the two will continue.
b. Hope in addressing faith crisis
Others deny the existence of a vocation crisis today, saying that what we are witnessing is more of a crisis in faith (cf. https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/we-dont-have-a-vocations-crisis-we-have-a-crisis-of-faith/). They say that the ratio between the number of priests and the number of active churchgoers is not really that bad, considering the slight decrease in the number of priests compared with the considerable decrease in the number of active churchgoers – meaning, if before priests had to attend to the need of a bigger number of churchgoers, now they have to attend to a lesser number of active churchgoers. Hence, it is not so much a vocation crisis, but a crisis in faith on the part of the faithful. The main factor held accountable for such “crisis in faith” would be the increasing trend in secularization. Thus, they say that our focus should not be on the crisis in vocation but on how to reignite the faith of the Catholics who have drifted away from regular worship and participation in the sacraments.
Certainly both issues – viz. crisis in vocation and crisis in faith – need to be properly addressed. This is where hope sets in. Compared with other continents, Asia and Africa offer much hope for renewed evangelization and a more fertile ground for religious vocation in the world today. Asian and African populations continue to manifest strong faith in God and hold a high regard for the Catholic Church. Sadly, both continents also register the highest degree of material poverty and economic crisis (with Ethiopia on the top of the list in Africa and Bangladesh in Asia), and this seems to have a direct impact on the way their peoples live out their faith. The Church can play a crucial role in both the religious and the economic upliftment of the people, in this case. It can come up with programs to improve the way it evangelizes and at the same time influence social institutions to address people’s economic situation. For now, this is one of the objects of our hope. It would also be our way of demonstrating what Michael Lamb would consider as the link between eschatological hope and temporal hope, or between Augustinian hope and politics.
c. Hope through personal and community renewal programs
As Augustinians we are supposed to be “bearers of hope” among our people. All the themes of our Chapters of Renewal for this year verge on hope. “Augustinians as Bearers of Hope” for the first quarter, “Renewing Our Commitment to Hope” for the second quarter, “Reflecting on the Role of Hope on Community Building” for the third quarter, and “Journey of Hope with Groaning Creation” for the fourth quarter. All these themes were intentionally aligned with the ongoing celebration of the Jubilee Year of Hope. In this regard, we remain hopeful that this year we can bring about positive changes within ourselves, within our respective communities, and in the way we deal with the faithful under our pastoral care and people that we encounter on various occasions. Like Augustine, we do not remain complacent and satisfied with the way things are (cf. Sermo 169.18). We believe that there is still room for improvement (cf. En. in Ps. 33.14). We do not despair, which leads us to passively accept the status quo. Instead we do whatever is within our power to bring about changes and to improve the order of things. We believe in the power of dialogue, in the clarity of our vision, in shared values, in the necessity of community planning, and so forth. We believe that change must begin with ourselves – self-renewal – even before we attempt to bring about changes within our respective communities, and from there to the world outside. Here lies the importance of constant renewal and we are lucky to have our ongoing formation programs, renewal programs, Chapters of Renewal, and so forth in our Province. If properly used, they can bring about the desired improvements and help us realize the objects of our hope.
d. Hope through various apostolates
Through our various apostolates, we can also become instruments of hope for the people around us. We do this by communicating the message of salvation to them, reminding them of God’s faithfulness to his promises, and encouraging them to put their hope in him. We can also instruct them to keep their eyes fixed on the eternal objects of hope and safeguard them from the risk involved in putting their hopes in temporal goods alone. We can guide them to help them make the most of what the current Jubilee Year of Hope has to offer, specifically by inviting them to avail of the sacrament of Reconciliation and guiding them on the way to conversion. We can share with them Augustine’s insights about hope through talks that we give during retreats and recollections. We can also engage more actively in concrete acts of charity. By helping them in whatever way we can, we encourage them to continue to trust in God and to be hopeful. Let us remember that charity is our way of strengthening our relationship with Christ, who is our hope (1Tm 1:1; Col 1:27; cf. En. in Ps. 61.13) and our guide and companion along our pilgrimage towards God (cf. En. in Ps. 60.4). In whatever apostolate or line of service we are in, let us proclaim the person of Christ and find ways of strengthening people’s communion with him. In this way, our hope is strengthened as we deepen our relationship with him in whom we find our hope.
Indeed, the Christian message of hope lends itself to different applications in our life as Augustinians. Pope Francis’ bull of indiction of the Jubilee Year has given us occasion to reflect on the Christian message of hope in the light of Augustine’s teachings. Let me end this reflection with a short quotation from Augustine: “Be assured that you can never be perfect in this world … Therefore, your aim in life should be as follows: Always try your best in doing what you have to do … never get tired of trying, because there is always room for improvement” (En. in Ps. 33.14).
REFERENCES
DE VAUX, Roland. Le istituzioni dell’Antico Testamento. Genova: Casa Editrice Marietti 1964. Original title: Les institutions de l’Ancien Testament. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf 1989.
KAUFMAN, Peter Iver. “Hopefully, Augustine”. Augustinian Studies 53:1 (2022): 3-27.
KNUUTTILA, Simo. “Time and Creation in Augustine”. The Cambridge Companion to Augustine (eds. Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann). Cambridge University Press 2001: 103-115.
KUNTZ, Paul. “Augustine: From homo erro to Homo viator”. Augustinian Studies 11 (1980): 79-89.
LAMB, Michael. “Be What You Hope For”. Essay drawn from his A Commonwealth of Hope: Augustine’s Political Thought. Princeton University Press 2022 (https://aeon.co/essays/what-can-augustine-of-hippos-philosophy-teach-us-about-hope).
————. “Augustine on Hope and Politics: A Response to Peter Iver Kaufman”. Augustinian Studies 53:1 (2022): 2-45.
OGLE, Veronica Roberts. “Healing Hope: A Response to Peter Iver Kaufman”. Augustinian Studies 53:1 (2022): 47-50.
Peebles, Bernard. “Introduction”. Faith, Hope and Charity. The Fathers of the Church series. Vol. 2. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press 1985.
Ramsey, Boniface. “Introduction”. Saint Augustine. The Augustine Catechism. The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love. New York: New City Press 1999.
YUEHUA, Chen. “On Augustine’s Theology of Hope: From the Perspective of Creation”. HTS Theological Studies. vol. 78. No. 4 (2022): 1-5.
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS USED
BETTENSON, Henry. St. Augustine. Concerning the City of God against the Pagans. London: Penguin Books, Ltd. 2003.
BOULDING, Maria (tr.). The Confessions. The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century series. New York: New City Press 1997.
————. Expositions of the Psalms. The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century series. New York: New City Press 2000 (for vols. 3.15-16), 2001 (for vol. 3.17), 2002 (for vol. 3.18), 2003 (for vol. 3.19), and 2004 (for vol. 3.20).
HARBERT, Bruce. The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love. New York: New City Press 1999.
PAFFENROTH, Kim. Agreement among the Evangelists. The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century series. New York: New City Press 2014.
PEEBLES, Bernard. Faith, Hope and Charity. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press 1985.
TESKE, Roland. Seventeen Questions on Matthew. The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century series. New York: New City Press 2014.
ABBREVIATIONS USED OF AUGUSTINE’S WORKS
Conf. (Confessiones, The Confessions)
De b. vita (De beata vita, On Happy Life)
De civ. Dei (De civitate Dei, The City of God)
De cons. Ev. (De consensu Evangelistarum, On Agreement among the Evangelists)
De doctr. chr. (De doctrina christiana, On Christian Teaching)
De Trin. (De Trinitate, The Trinity)
Ench. (Enchiridion de fide, spe et caritate, A Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love)
En. in Ps. (Enarrationes in Psalmos, Explanations of the Psalms)
Quaest. XVII in Mt (Quaestiones XVII in Matthaeum, Seventeen Question on Matthew)
Sol. (Soliloquia, The Soliloquies)
