(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Winter 2025 Issue #114)

 Anne Mulqueen, OFS
National Formation Commission

Hope is a special virtue to me because it is my middle name. I was born the ninth child to older parents, a girl after a string of boys. My father, a dreamer, added Hope to my name because he believed I would be their hope for the future. I hope I fulfilled his dream. He died when I was 15.

Alexander Pope wrote, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” People, especially Franciscans, always hold on to hope, even in difficult times. It is part of human nature and a virtue. These lovely words speak the truth that it is God who plants hope in the human heart.

St. Thomas Aquinas speaks directly to our hope and desire for an abundant harvest of Secular Franciscan vocations.

“First, hope is triggered by a future good — a good not yet obtained. Second, by a possible good — a good that can be obtained. Third, by a difficult good — a good that, while possible, can only be obtained through difficulty.” [Summa Theologica]

All three aspects of hope speak to our current situation: a future good, a possible good, and a good obtained through overcoming obstacles.

I am a regional spiritual assistant and conduct pastoral visitations. When I ask, “What is your current challenge?” I invariably hear, “We need more vocations.”

If we hope for an increase in vocations, what should we do? I don’t have all the answers, but I will share some of my hopes, thoughts, and dreams for a vibrant, growing Secular Franciscan Order that gives praise, honor, and glory to God through its many members.

Pray: The best way to start is with prayer. If a Secular Franciscan vocation is a call from God, who better to get inspiration from than the Almighty? God calls, the person responds, and we assist. Hope and vocations are gifts from God and lead us back to God more intimately and profoundly. Prayer coupled with hope sustains us in times when we see little progress.

Invite: I never heard of the “Third Order of St. Francis” until Maryellen Hickey invited me to a fraternity gathering. She was persistent. She never gave up and continued to invite me. How many of us discovered our vocation because of an invitation? Remember what Andrew said to his brother Simon Peter: Come and See!

Be an Authentic Witness: We live in an anxious age, and our need for meaning and purpose is great. Many people we meet daily hunger for a deeper connection to God and may not know what that hunger is or how to satisfy it. They need to see in us what they are looking for. As Aquinas said, hope prevails despite difficulties. And we, like Francis and Clare, cling to that hope. Francis’ followers found solace and purpose in the gospel way of life. If we live our charism as Francis did, the people God has called to be Secular Franciscans will flock to us.

Maya Angelou said: “At the end of the day, people won’t remember what you said or did; they will remember how you made them feel.” Your witness of gospel peace, acceptance, and joy may help them discern a call to something deeper, to a Secular Franciscan way of life.

Hope is the assurance of things not seen. [Hebrews 11:2] In the words of Pope Francis, hope is not “…a passive virtue that merely waits for things to happen.” We must step out in faith and be that gospel salt, leaven, and light illuminating the path for those God has called to be one with us.

https://www.secularfranciscansusa.org/2025/04/07/hope-built-on-faith-results-in-an-increase-in-vocations/

(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Winter 2025 Issue #114)

Fr. Christopher Panagoplos, T.O.R.
National Spiritual Assistant

A Jubilee Year is a particular year in the life of the Church to encourage the faithful to deepen their spiritual life, repenting their sins, and forgiving the sins of others—the full expression of the mercy of God. In a letter announcing the Jubilee Year of Hope, Pope Francis stated, “As pilgrims of hope, we must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that hope, as a theological virtue, is a desire for the happiness of the kingdom of heaven and eternal life, by placing our trust in Christ’s promises with the help and the grace of the Holy Spirit (1817). Hope motivates us to pursue the good, to exercise God’s mercy of healing and restoration for renewal and rebirth so urgently needed. Christ Jesus is our hope.

The purpose of the Jubilee Year of Hope is to restore hope and trust, to recover a sense of universal fraternity, to care for the environment, and to contemplate the beauty of creation. Hope is the virtue and instrument enabling us to trust that our action makes sense, even if the results of this action are not immediately seen (Rom 8, 24). Hope is given to us by God as a protection and guard against futility.

We are reminded that the themes of our Holy Father’s three previous encyclicals are related: Laudato Si’: global dialogue about how we are shaping the future through actions and decisions; Fratelli Tutti: a fraternal openness that allows us to acknowledge, appreciate, and love each person; Laudate Deum: a prophetic call to conversion, admonishing the human family that it has neglected its relationships with creation, one another, and above all, God.

His fourth encyclical titled, “Dilexit Nos” (DN), “He loved us,” is an invitation to rediscover the importance of the heart, both in our spiritual life and in our human and social relationships. Pope Francis tells us that it is the effectual love of God that first changes our hearts in order to make us capable of love. It is Jesus’ example of love that reminds us again and again of our need to love others. The Heart of Jesus is presented as the perfect model of unconditional and total love, which calls us to live an authentic and full life, in communion with God and with others.

Pope Francis is concerned that men and women of our time find themselves confused and torn apart and risk losing “heart.” One’s interior life requires a return to the core place of strength, conviction, passion and decisions (DN 9). Individualism, consumerism and fragmentation devalue the heart. It is the heart that makes all authentic bonding possible. Only love can unify diverse minds and wills for people to come together as sisters and brothers. Hope brings harmony, making sense of what may seem hopelessly shattered (DN 17-19). In the second chapter, the Pope reflects on the closeness and compassion of Jesus’ gestures and words of love. Encounters with people focus on their concerns and sufferings. The most powerful testimony of Jesus’ love is poured out on the cross.

The transformation of the world begins in the heart.

In the third chapter, a heart that loves deeply is a divine and human heart that unites us and sends us into action.

“To love for love.” It is important to remember that Pope Francis speaks as a Jesuit, grounded in the Ignatian Exercises, where the heart is the soul and the core of inner reform that goes beyond the superficial. Reform comes from within, from the heart, not solely from external changes. Mercy and hope are two central themes of Pope Francis’ jubilees: Mercy 2016, Hope 2025. “Dilexit Nos” reminds us that mercy and hope are not distinct dimensions in the Heart of Jesus, but an undivided expression of an infinite love that embraces all humanity.

There is no time given us to embrace this encyclical other than this time of Jubilee: December 2024—December 2025. What is required is faithful confidence that strains forward in long endurance. Our society is broken, pretty much. The time is now when these times can be made right. The hope of divine assistance is behind this of making things right. Hope cannot be overcome by powers present or things to come. Matthew 25 directs our attention: that these times made right will be infused by the help of God’s grace.

As pilgrims of hope, we can greatly contribute to restore a climate of hope and trust by recovering a sense of universal fraternity and refusing to turn a blind eye to the tragedy of rampant poverty that prevents many men, women, young people and children from living in a manner worthy of human dignity. Let us not be deaf to the voices of refugees forced to abandon their native homeland. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings: trust lost to apprehensiveness, serenity to anxiety, conviction to hesitation and doubt.

Let us pray for all people, our sisters and brothers, especially those who are discouraged, pessimistic, and cynical, these also are our sisters and brothers:

“St Francis, stigmatized on La Verna, the world longs for you, that icon of the crucified Jesus. Reopen the doors of hope. It has need of your heart, open to God and to others; of your bare, wounded feet, of your pierced hands raised in supplication. It longs for your voice so frail yet forceful with the power of the Gospel. Francis, help the people of this age to recognize the evil of sin and to seek purification from it in penance. Help them to become free from every structure of sin that oppresses today’s society. Rekindle in the consciousness of those in government an urgent need for peace between nations and peoples. Instill in young people your freshness of life that is capable of withstanding the snares of the many cultures of death. To those injured by every type of evil, teach O Francis, the joy of being able to forgive. To all those crucified by suffering, hunger and war, reopen the doors of hope. Amen.”
(Prayer of Pope John Paul II, Mass at La Verna, 17 September 1993)

https://www.secularfranciscansusa.org/2025/03/31/jubilee-year-of-hope-not-to-lose-heart/

On one level, this is a story about family relationships, and not meant to be a social commentary.  The father represents the self-giving spiritual reality of God; the two sons—two predicaments in which people find themselves.  The younger son will be lost in sin; the older son is lost in self-righteousness.  Both are lost.

Father’s Homily – video

Father’s Homily – text

4 C Lent 2025

https://www.secularfranciscansusa.org/2025/03/29/the-gospel-through-a-franciscan-lens-4th-sunday-in-lent-the-prodigal-son-fr-christopher/