Dear Friends,
My hope is challenged these rough months. You can probably relate. Here are three of my moments of hope from the past month.
September 20, 2025
Last month, the Rochester, NY, Sisters of Saint Joseph gathered with partners and friends to celebrate the anniversaries of women and men seasoned in ministry, faith, and life experience. Together the community of Joseph reminisced about call, ministry journeys and beloved companions. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they recognized Jesus in the word and in the breaking of the bread.
October 8, 2025
At his general audience, Pope Leo spoke to more than 60,000 pilgrims. Among them was a group of students from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in Chicago, IL. The children wore robes and uniforms from their springtime performance of a papal conclave. The excited young pilgrims visited with Pope Leo, who had been elected two days after their performance. Their joy was evident and infectious. What will be the future challenges for these young disciples?
October 9,2025
This morning’s news announced a tentative peace plan for Hamas and Israel. There are celebrations in Israel and Gaza. There is cautious hope and continuing prayers for a permanent peace accord. Images of death, ruins, and famine call out to the world’s believers to respond: What sort of peace will follow this war?
Those are my three moments. Printed below, some words of Pope Leo from that October 8 general audience.
In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ
This is the greatest surprise: to discover that beneath the ashes of disenchantment and weariness there is always a living ember, waiting only to be rekindled…Christ's resurrection teaches us that no history is so marked by disappointment or sin that it cannot be visited by hope. However distant, lost or unworthy we may feel, there is no distance that can extinguish the unfailing power of God's love.
This morning’s news announced a tentative peace plan for Hamas and Israel. There are celebrations in Israel and Gaza. There is cautious hope and continuing prayers for a permanent peace accord. Images of death, ruins, and famine call out to the world’s believers to respond: What sort of peace will follow this war?
Those are my three moments. Printed below, some words of Pope Leo from that October 8 general audience.
In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ
This is the greatest surprise: to discover that beneath the ashes of disenchantment and weariness there is always a living ember, waiting only to be rekindled…Christ's resurrection teaches us that no history is so marked by disappointment or sin that it cannot be visited by hope. However distant, lost or unworthy we may feel, there is no distance that can extinguish the unfailing power of God's love.
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