Papal audience topic: Abraham’s witness of faith, hope
March 29, 2017
Continuing his series of weekly catechetical talks on the virtue of hope, Pope Francis spoke to his general audience on March 29 about the example of Abraham, who is “not only a father in faith, but also father in hope.”
”The God Who reveals Himself to Abraham is the God Who saves, the God Who brings us out from desperation and from death, the God Who calls to life,” the Pope said. His story illustrates the “very close bond between faith and hope.” Although both he and his wife Sarah were elderly—well beyond child-bearing years—Abraham believed in the Lord’s promise that they would have offspring, the Pope remarked; he had “hope against all hope.”
The Holy Father challenged the faithful to have the same strong hope, the same confidence in God’s promise. “Are we convinced,” he asked, “that God wishes us well and that all He promised us is able to bring it to fruition?” He added that to receive the incalculable blessings that God offers, we are required only to open our hearts. “This is the only price: open your heart to faith and He will do the rest.”
Previous general audiences on hope:
- Isaiah 40: “Comfort, comfort my people…” (December 7)
- Isaiah 52: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings…” (December 14)
- Christ’s birth is the source of hope (December 21)
- Abraham’s hope against all hope (December 28)
- Rachel “is weeping for her children”, but... “there is hope for your descendants” (Jer. 31) (January 4)
- The false hopes of idols (January 11)
- Jonah: hope and prayer (January 18)
- Judith, the Courage of a Woman Restores Hope to a People (January 25)
- The helmet of hope (1 Thess. 5:4-11) (February 1)
- Hope, Source of Mutual Comfort and Peace (1 Thess. 5:12-22) (February 8)
- Hope Does Not Disappoint (February 15)
- For in this hope, we were saved (cf. Rom 8:19-27) (February 22)
- Lent as a journey of hope (March 1)
- Charity is a grace, the fruit of our saving encounter with God’s own love (March 8)
- Hope founded on the Word (March 15)
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