“Hope does not disappoint!” Pope Francis opened the Jubilee Year of Hope back on Christmas Eve, and he chose those words from the Letter to the Romans as its theme. Standing in St. Peter’s Square that night, I think I got a glimpse of the truth that St. Paul wanted the first Christians in Rome to know deep down. I was just one Christian in an enormous crowd, but I felt a real sense that God is in control, and simple as it sounds, I was just really happy in that moment.

Lent can be tough, especially in the last two weeks. By this point, we have been through a month of fasting from some of the things we enjoy most (or maybe some things that aren’t that good for us). As we also begin to focus more on Jesus’ Passion, we are called to reflect more deeply on our own sinfulness and insufficiencies. If we do not give in to the temptation to block it out of our minds, it all can become disorienting and upsetting. As Jesus tells us, we should embrace all the crosses – challenges, failures, illnesses, rejections, depressions, etc. – of our lives, but we have to do so with a lot of hope.

Hope is the gift from God that helps us to trust in His goodness and know that our real happiness is found with Christ alone. Hope is a theological virtue, which means it comes from God alone; you can’t make yourself truly hopeful! Together with faith and charity, hope encourages us to keep going and to remember that our life’s goal is Heaven.

I’m really looking forward to the month of April, because Fr. Dan, Bro. Peter, and Bro. Michael Duffy will be visiting me here in Rome for Holy Week and Easter. It will be great to pray through the great Mysteries with them and to spend some good time together. Apart from the Resurrection, of course, the highlight of the week will be the canonization of St. Carlo Acutis on April 27, Divine Mercy Sunday. Carlo is a saintly hero of mine, and I even keep a big icon of him hanging on the door in my room at the Seminary. Like me, Carlo is a millennial, and it’s just so cool to know that God is making saints out of guys like me, even today.

Carlo Acutis is also a tremendous person of hope. Even though he died at only 15 years old, he has a lot to teach me about being a man of hope and about living the holy days of Easter with my heart fixed on Heaven – together with Jesus and Mary.

I thought I would give Carlo the last word in this reflection. I know that this is a crazy time for all, but please spend a few minutes praying each day leading up to Easter and afterwards. Take some of these quotes from soon-to-be St. Carlo to prayer, and I think that they might help you to experience the great hope that Jesus Christ wants to give to us – eternal life!

“The only thing we have to ask God for, in prayer, is the desire to be holy.”
“The Virgin Mary is the only woman in my life.”
“All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies.”
“To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan.”
“Sadness is looking at ourselves; happiness is looking towards God.”
“Our soul is like a hot air balloon. If by chance there is a mortal sin, the soul falls to the ground. Confession is like the fire underneath the balloon enabling the soul to rise again. . . It is important to go to confession often.”
“Not me, but God.”

St. Carlo Acutis, pray for us! Be sure of my prayers for you and your families during these holy days of Lent and Easter. I really do pray for all of you!