Session 6: A life anchored in hope, part 1

Hope extends beyond the grave!  It walks with us through even sin, death, and final judgment, as it accompanies us to our ultimate destination of everlasting life with God.  That is the message of Pope Francis’s final section of Spes Non Confundit, which we begin to explore in this session.  Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we can remain anchored in hope and have confidence in our future.

Our study guide questions will help us explore simple ways we can demonstrate our hope as we go through our everyday lives.  We will also explore what eternal life is like, the reasons we can have hope of eternal life, and how life is a pilgrimage toward eternal life where death is not the final destination.

(Section 5) Anchored in hope

In this section, Pope Francis explores reasons why we can live a life anchored in hope.

Paragraph 18 (hope gives direction and purpose to life)

Read Romans 15:13

In Romans 15:13, Paul describes God as a “God of hope.”  In what ways is God a God of hope?

According to Paul, what does God fill us with, that enables us to abound in hope?

How does the Holy Spirit play a role in our ability to abound in hope?

In paragraph 18 of Spes Non Confundit, Pope Francis says that when we abound in hope, “we may bear credible and attractive witness to the faith and love that dwell in our hearts.”  What does this mean?

Pope Francis shows a keen awareness that we can serve God in the most mundane parts of our everyday lives.  God is present in the so-called “secular” spaces of our lives as well as the “sacred” spaces.

What are some specific examples Pope Francis suggests for how we can demonstrate our hope in our ordinary, everyday interactions with others?

Pope Francis’s examples show how simple actions can bear witness to our faith and the love of God.  What are some simple actions you could adopt or make more habitual in the “secular” spaces of your life that would bear witness to the love of God even if you did not have an opportunity to say a word?

Read 1 Peter 3:15

How can the little ways that we live our lives open up opportunities for us to share the reasons why we have hope?

How can you let your hope show more clearly to the people around you?

Suggested Activities: 

• Pay attention to the little things that some people do that bring life, joy, and hope into their interactions with other people.  Then considers ways that you can be a similar vehicle of God’s hope and joy.

• Make a point of looking up at and smiling at your children and loved ones when they come in the door of your house.

• Make eye contact and smile when people walk by you at work.

• Look for the little things you can do that might make other people’s loads a little lighter, and do those things without calling attention to yourself.

• Start each conversation with something positive rather than something negative.

• Make saying “thank you” a habit.

Paragraph 19 (life everlasting)

Read John 11:21-27

What does Jesus mean when he says that believers who die will live?

What does this teaching mean to you?

How does this teaching give you hope or comfort?

In paragraph 19, Pope Francis draws on the teachings of the Second Vatican Council as he describes the effect on people when they do not have hope in eternal life.  Where have you seen people struggle due to a lack of hope in eternal life?

Pope Francis says that we can have hope because we know that in the end we will encounter the Lord of glory.  How does knowing that in the end you will see and be with Jesus affect how you live your life?

Suggested Activity: 

• Spend some time by yourself, contemplating what it will be like when you have left this world and are present with Jesus.  Open your heart to His presence now.  See the love in His welcoming face and soak up His love.  Talk to Him.  Listen to what He says to you.  Then carry that awareness of the presence of Jesus back into your everyday life.

Paragraph 20 (death, and Jesus’s resurrection)

Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-5

In paragraph 20, Pope Francis confronts the fact that, although we have hope of eternal life, we still have to deal with the reality of death.  He quotes 1 Corinthians 15:3-5.  What does Paul say in that passage?

Pope Francis calls attention to four verbs that apply to Jesus: He died, was buried, was raised, and appeared.  Why are these verbs so important?

In paragraph 20, Pope Francis quotes from one of the prefaces that can be prayed in the Mass of the dead used for funeral Masses, which states that when a person dies, “life is changed, not ended.”  What does this mean and how does it offer hope?

In the second part of paragraph 20, Pope Francis says that we have “a life capable of transfiguring death’s drama.”  What does that mean in practical terms?

If life is a pilgrimage toward life everlasting, as Pope Francis says at the end of the second part of paragraph 20, then what role does death play in what is to come?

How do you want to live your life now, knowing that your destination is your loving Father and His Son Jesus?

The last two parts of paragraph 20 focus on the example of the martyrs.  How do they provide insight into the image of life as a pilgrimage?  How do they provide support for the hope we have that transcends death?

Suggested Activity: 

• Pick a martyr whose story speaks to your heart and learn more about them.  Go beyond the obituary facts.  Learn about their thinking, their spiritual life, how they related to God during their life, how they communicated the love of God to others as they lived.  Try to emulate something you find attractive in the way they lived.

Paragraph 21 (happiness)

In paragraph 21, Pope Francis discusses what life after death is like.  What are some of the things we will experience in eternal life?

“Happiness” is a term sometimes used to describe what life is like for those who live in full communion with God in heaven.  The second part of paragraph 21 tries to describe that happiness.  What will the happiness of heaven include?

Read Romans 8:38-39

Pope Francis quotes from the apostle Paul as he discusses the love of God that we will ultimately experience.  What does Romans 8:38-39 tell us about the love of God?

If none of the things that Paul mentions in Romans 8:38-39 can keep us from God’s love, what does that tell us about God?

How does this understanding of eternal life give us hope?

Since we can have this confidence that we may live forever in eternal happiness and communion with God, how can that free us to do more, rather than less, to help the least among us who struggle so much in our present world?

Suggested Activity: 

• Think about people who are facing grave trials in our world today (Romans 8:35 provides examples such as war, persecution, and famine).  Place yourself in their shoes and feel their agony.  See them as God, who loves them dearly, sees them.  Pray for them.  Pray that they will experience the love of God in the midst of their trials.  Pray that God’s people will work to ease their suffering.

Look over the passages we have considered in this session.  What especially gives you hope or stands out as especially important from this exploration, and why?