2. 1. Communion in hope

The Bishop, as the visible sign and instrument of unity in the Christian community, and the consecrated persons as “experts in communion,” are in a position to revive communion in hope as a prerequisite for the proclamation of the Gospel of hope. The IL says that: “Communion in hope is to be deepened and shared as the source of inspiration which is made fruitful through the prayer of the Bishop and through the dialogue of charity with all the People of God, especially his closest collaborators. In this way, they can participate in discussing various initiatives and the actual planning of programmes” ⁷⁰. What does this mean and what is the scope of this communion in hope?

The personalist thinkers who have made hope the object of their study make reference to the essential condition of the person who truly hopes. Genuine hope is personal, social and historical. ⁷¹

Man lives side by side and waits together with his neighbour, with his community. Hope and solidarity go together. ⁷² For G. Marcel the subject of hope is the “we.” “Hope – he said- is always tied to a communion, even when it is the most interior.” ⁷³ Who ever lives in hope carries within the strongest antidote against individualism and egoism.

 In order to delve deeper into this “communion in hope,” we believers look to the one who is the origin of hope (the Padre), the one who fulfils the messianic promises (the Son) and the one gives certainty to our hope (the Holy Spirit). By evoking the trinitarian dimension of hope, we dispose ourselves to enter into the mystery of communion and into the creative and transforming power of hope. The Christian, whether a Bishop, priest, religious or layperson, bears within himself and feels enveloped in this mystery of communion, which he or she confesses, celebrates and proclaims in community. In daily life hope continues to grow and become stronger in the face of situations of adversity to the degree that the relations with the Trinity are intensified.

In episcopal ordination the trinitarian stamp of the grace of the episcopate is imparted⁷⁴. The trinitarian stamp on the life and ministry of the Bishop evoke the mystery that shines forth in the Church, the image of the Trinity, a people gathered together in the peace and harmony of the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit⁷⁵.

The consecrated life, for its part, to the degree that it is lived in conformity with Christ,  “brings about in a special way that confessio Trinitatis which is the mark of all Christian life; it acknowledges with wonder the sublime beauty of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and bears joyful witness to his loving concern for every human being” ⁷⁶. By the profession of the evangelical counsels, it “becomes one of the tangible seals which the Trinity impresses upon history, so that people can sense with longing the attraction of divine beauty” ⁷⁷. It is not only the evangelical counsels that reflect the trinitarian life, but in fraternal life the mystery of the Trinity is also made manifest⁷⁸.

This immersion in the Trinitarian mystery places us, both Bishops and consecrated persons, in a movement of communion and mission: it comes from the divine life of the Trinity and leads to the definitive joyful communion with the three divine Persons. To confess the Trinity is to accept each day in the personal and collective history he who has created us, he who has redeemed us and enter into the new covenant and he who waits for a full loving union. The luminous rays of such beauty permit us to see the position we have in the Church and encourages us to purify motives, to relativize the ephemeral and illusory, to accept failures in a positive way, and to express efforts to continue proclaiming before men and women that, despite so many evils and injustices, we are loved by God and confident that he will fulfil his Promises.   

There is a very special time in which this “communion in hope” becomes clear: It is in prayer. In prayer the glory of God is revealed to us, as well as our own poverty. Prayer situates our life in the salvific future of God. In prayer the plan of salvation is revealed to us. The Spirit, who prays in us, invites us to desire and hope for the fullness of love that has begun to be realised in us through Jesus Christ. When we recite the Our Father we ask: hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. St. Thomas rightly called it the petition that interprets hope⁷⁹. Our prayer is always a prayer of eschatological hope. In the midst of adversity and setbacks we pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God. During the Eucharist it is the community of believers that exclaims before the sacrament of our faith: “Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again!”

Encounters of prayer, above all the Eucharist, where one hears and interiorizes the Word of God and in its light discerns events, where one becomes aware of being a part of the Body and where the charisms and ministries are welcomed in their specificity and function, where one feels that urgency of unity and mission, are already signs of hope, forms of announcing the arrival of the Kingdom. Perhaps sufficient importance has not been given to these encounters of prayer in common – Bishops and religious – in the teachings about the consecrated life. ⁸⁰ Nonetheless, I believe that they have great significance for evangelization, since they already have been given a solid foundation and make possible a firm expression about the relationship between pastoral agents.

There is no doubt that when Bishops and consecrated persons meet to plan or coordinate pastoral activities, attitudes and positions change, if the meeting has been preceded by prayer and the proposals have been discerned in light of the Word of God. More importance is given to the gratitude, recognition, mutual support, than to efficacy and external results. That is why I believe that support should be given to the proposal of the IL about the Bishop as a man of prayer and teacher of prayer: “The Bishop is also to pursue occasions in which he can hear the Word of God and pray together with his priests, the permanent deacons, seminarians and consecrated men and women of his particular Church. Wherever and whenever possible, he is to do the same also with the laity, particularly with those in groups associated in a common apostolic activity. In this way, the Bishop fosters the spirit of communion… ⁸¹

Fostering communion in hope is performing a mission of hope; it is making the pilgrim Church the servant of meaning, of solidarity and of support on the journey to the Father. In this task the Bishop plays an important, irreplaceable role as  Pastor, Teacher and Pontifex. However, we too have something to contribute, because we have received, as a gratuitous gift from on high, the gift of being disciples, of being brothers and sisters, of being co-workers in the multiform “servitium caritatis,” including the inner freedom and the capacity of denouncing everything that is not in conformity with the will of God⁸².