I Hope...

I had a very long wait today while my three middles went to confession (I went over the weekend) and was very pleased to find that I happened to have Pope Benedict's Encyclical Spe Salvi in my purse (I had just picked up a print version recently from the bookstore).

I read the encyclical from a printout when it was first released, but I'm really absorbing and understanding it better the second time around. The context of having read more of Jesus of Nazareth has helped, I think. Wonderful stuff. Here's a little taste...

Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well. So now we can say: Christianity was not only "good news" - the communication of a hitherto unknown content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not only "informative" but "performative." That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known - it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.