What does it really mean to be a pilgrim of hope? We all know what hope is, more or less. The Gospels call Christians to hope countless times, and Pope Francis, planning ahead, invited Catholics to “gain new strength and certainty” by becoming pilgrims of hope in the Jubilee Year of 2025, which concludes on Jan. 6, 2026. Some of my Catholic friends made a pilgrimage to Rome, and some took advantage of the chance to visit pilgrimage sites here in the United States.
But some of them made an involuntary pilgrimage, walking not through Holy Doors but through terrible trials of grief and loss—and in the process, they gained a more profound understanding of the theological virtue of hope. It is, they learned, more than optimism, more than desire, and more, even, than a belief that everything will work out someday in heaven. Hope is a force that orders their lives on earth as they walk toward heaven.
Pope Leo recently said, “We know that, even in the darkness of trial, God’s love sustains us and ripens the fruit of eternal life in us.” Here are three stories of Catholics who did find sustenance from God in times that felt hopeless.
Danielle McLellan-Bujnak knows about that darkness. She saw her home, her cozy neighborhood and her entire town vaporized in the Palisades fire at the beginning of this year. It burned at 2,000 degrees for 20 hours. The soil was poisoned, and the ocean went black. … Read my feature story for America Magazine.
Photo courtesy of Danielle McClellan-Bujnak