ALBANY ASSOCIATION
of the
LADIES OF CHARITY

Gratitude and Hope

 

Vincent urges us to “…spend at least as much time in thanking God for His favors as we have in asking for them.” (Coste, volume 12, p. 399)

 

“Thank you, God, for everything that reveals your love. Thank you, God, for people who demonstrate your love. Thank you, God, for choosing us to be your people, for calling and equipping us to communicate your love to the world about us.” (“Psalms/ Now”, Leslie Brandt, p. 208)

 

Today’s reflection is twofold. Initially, I planned to focus on Pope Francis’ announcement of the Jubilee year and its theme of “HOPE,” but, considering the generosity I have experienced from our Ladies of Charity, I felt compelled to begin this reflection by expressing my gratitude. Over the past year and most recently there have been multiple requests for donations, gifts and participation in the Daughters of Charity Christmas Café. Gratitude, genuine gratitude, like humility, is a good thing, a vibrant thing, a wholesome thing and a freeing thing which helps us grow. Gratitude has everything to do with our relationship to God, our openness to people, our expectations of life and our attitudes toward others. Our Ladies of Charity have demonstrated their gratitude for what God has given them by their constant sharing of themselves and their resources. I am overwhelmed by the generosity of each of you and I say a MAGNANIMOUS THANK YOU.

 

This year, beginning December 24, 2024, and through 2025, Pope Francis has declared a Jubilee year with the theme of “HOPE.” He stated that, after two years marked by the coronavirus pandemic, the crises caused by war in many countries and the need to care for our earth, “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 and trusting heart.”

 

The Jubilee year can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust that we so urgently desire. Pope Francis states, “we are called to be tangible signs of hope for our brothers and sisters who experience hardship of any kind.” He emphasized the need for diplomacy to resolve the wars and armed conflicts around the world and called world leaders to address the needs of the billions of poor people in the world who lack food and water.

 

We all know what it is to hope. In the heart of each of us hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come.

 

Let me conclude with an excerpt from Pope Francis’ homily: “Dear brothers and sisters in this year of prayer, let us lift up our hearts to Christ and become singers of hope in a world marked by too much despair. By our actions, our words, the decisions we make each day, our patient efforts to sow seeds of beauty and kindness wherever we find ourselves, we want to sing of hope, so that its melody can touch the heartstrings of humanity and reawaken in every heart the joy to embrace life to the full.”

 

Let us be “pilgrims of hope” for all we encounter in our lives.

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Blessings and gratitude to all,

 

Sister Joanne