The Church has called us to a season of hope. Pope Francis recently inaugurated 2025 as a Jubilee year with the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” Hope can be a tricky thing to wrap our minds around sometimes. Yes, Christ has won the final victory, but sin still persists in our world, and as we look around it doesn’t always feel like we are on the winning team.
The Holy Father is calling each one of us to reflect on the victory that Christ has already won and how we can participate in making it more visible in the world around us. There are many in our own communities who need a word of hope, and they need us to speak it to them — to be a herald of the Good News of Jesus Christ — and to talk about the ways that we have experienced hope and invite others to be open to it as well. This is what the Church has been calling us to — to be missionary disciples making a real difference in the world around us.
I am continually inspired by my experiences working with pastors and parish leaders who are on the front lines as missionaries of hope. Yes, we have had hard times in the Archdiocese of St. Louis as we wrestle with the best way to respond to changing landscapes locally, but that hasn’t stopped many from making meaningful invitations to meet Jesus and return to Church. The number of people in the Christian initiation process last year was up about 15 percent! In the past year, Mass attendance increased, for the fourth year in a row, after many hard decisions were made — praise God for His goodness!
As I reflect on the hardships we have faced and the seeds of hope we see, St. Paul has the perfect reminder for us:
“…We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
Hope is not without trials or difficulties, but it will not disappoint if we continue to do our part to invite people to a relationship with the living God.
There is a deep longing in every human heart for God, and people are hungry to respond. It is my firm belief that we are just getting started with the renewal God wants for us in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Mass attendance is up, but now we have simply gotten the curve back to where it would have been had COVID not happened.
This is the moment to embrace our identity as a missionary Church and speak words of hope to those who desperately need it. This is the moment to be bold in our witness and invitation and watch the Holy Spirit work in unexpected ways.
As we invite people back to the Church, it’s important to remember that conversion is often a process, not a singular moment. We want to help nonpracticing Catholics come back to Mass, but Mass may not be the first thing we invite them to. Here are a few things you can do:
• Take someone out for coffee or lunch and have a meaningful conversation about what is important to them — and ask questions. Deeper conversations often create spaces for people to reveal that they are looking for something more in life.
• Share your story about why your faith and attending Mass is important to you. It doesn’t have to be professional or polished; just be real.
• Help your parish create spaces for people who have questions or are wrestling with God. Run programs like Alpha or The Search to help prompt questions in seekers.
• Get rejected. Really. If no one ever tells you no, are you taking the risks that the Gospel asks of you?
• Pray for opportunities to have meaningful conversations. If we ask God to make the space, He often will.
• Fast for those for whom you desire conversion. Jesus talks in the Gospels about the unique power of fasting.
