OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY
“Hope is bold; it can look beyond personal convenience, the petty securities and compensations which limit our horizon, and it can open us up to grand ideals that make life more beautiful and worthwhile.” (Pope Francis, “Fratelli Tutti,” October 2020)
In this fast-paced age of virtual communication, it is easy to lose touch with people and miss some of life’s most beautiful experiences, including personal “talk story” encounters and sharing feelings of hope. Yet even though this pandemic has forced us to physically distance ourselves, our Holy Father tells us we can still foster hope by strengthening friendships and building fraternity among ALL our brothers and sisters.
The pontiff’s latest encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” which loosely means “Brothers and Sisters All,” offers a message of inclusion and unity inspired by St. Francis who … “heard the voice of God, he heard the voice of the poor, he heard the voice of the infirm … He made of them a way of life. My desire is that the seed that St. Francis planted may grow in the hearts of many.”
“Fratelli Tutti” reminds us that the seed of hope starts with the belief that “God has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity, and has called them to live together as brothers and sisters.” With that concept in mind, the pope writes, “Community can be rebuilt by men and women who identify with the vulnerability of others, who reject the creation of a society of exclusion, and act instead as neighbors, lifting up and rehabilitating the fallen for the sake of the common good.”
Although COVID-19 has cast many dark clouds above us, it has also illuminated the numerous Good Samaritans around us “who, in the midst of fear, responded by putting their lives on the line. We began to realize that our lives are interwoven with and sustained by ordinary people valiantly shaping the decisive events of our shared history: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caretakers, transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services.”
Here at home, among the most active essential workers during this pandemic are the staff of the Catholic affiliate agency HOPE Services Hawaii who have been putting their lives on the line because they believe, as Pope Francis does, that “no one is saved alone … we can only be saved together.” The pope invites us to build “paths of hope” together, because hope is a gift rooted in all our hearts to be cultivated and shared, connecting us regardless of our life circumstances and history.
“Hope speaks to us of a thirst, an aspiration, a longing for a life of fulfillment, a desire to achieve great things, things that fill our heart and lift our spirit to lofty realities like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love.”
For a decade, HOPE Services has been inspiring and building paths of hope by transforming the sharing of vulnerability into the strength of solidarity. With support from the diocese and dozens of community partners, it has prevented thousands from becoming homeless by building emergency shelters for those displaced by the lava flow, providing rent and mortgage subsidies to Big Island residents impacted by the pandemic, and organizing the distribution of emergency free food in Hawaii County with support from parish pantries.
”Fratelli Tutti” is also very alive in Hawaii parishes that work with community partners to spread hope and aloha with brothers and sisters in need. Examples include Annunciation Parish and Ascension Mission volunteering with Plates of Aloha Food truck to serve breakfast to the unemployed and first responders on the Big Island. St. Theresa Parish in Kihei provides vulnerable persons, including the homebound, with daily nourishment through its community cooperative Hale Kau Kau meal program.
On Kauai, St. Catherine Parish has partnered with the Nourish Kauai program allowing use of its certified kitchen for the Kupuna Meal Delivery Program. On Molokai, St. Damien Parish is a hub of resources, such as meal vouchers for kupuna through Maui County’s Aloha Meals2Go program. On Oahu, Immaculate Conception Parish food pantry collaborates with Hawaii Food Bank in serving 5,937 individuals and 1,987 families.
We are inspired by these rays of hope. May we all follow the call of Pope Francis to build paths of hope caring for one another as one ohana living as fratelli tutti, which “shows us how to dream and to turn our life into a wonderful adventure.”
To read the full encyclical, visit the OSM website: officeforsocialministry.org.
Mahalo,
from your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
