Theme
Witnesses on hope
Hoping where there was no reason to hope: that is their common signature.
A few words
The impulse to pursue God originates with God himself.
Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; do with me what You will.
I turn my omelet in the pan for the love of God.
I do not worship matter; I worship the Creator of matter, who became matter for my sake.
I would like to walk to where God is not known, to make him known.
Faith, being followed by hope, and preceded by love towards God, and Christ, and our neighbour, is the mother of us all.
All 171 witnesses on hope
- A. W. Tozer The thirst for God kept alive, and the refusal to settle for a lukewarm faith.
- Absalom Jones The thanksgiving of a people who remember their deliverance, and pray for those still waiting for theirs.
- Abuna Petros Blessing still when all is lost, and not taking back one's word.
- Alexandre Men Faith that stays young, even when everything around insists it is dead.
- Alfred Delp Adoration that stays standing when everything else is taken away.
- Alphonsa Muttathupadathu Suffering offered in silence, without bitterness or display.
- Alphonse de Liguori Praying without ceasing as the great means of salvation, trust in the goodness of God.
- André de Crète Beginning again, when one no longer knows where to start.
- André Dũng-Lạc Ceasing to flee in order to stay faithful, holding the faith to the end.
- André Kim Taegon Faithfulness that holds when believing costs your life, and leaves hope behind as an inheritance.
- Anna Hinderer Holding a modest post for a very long time, and still finding reason there to give thanks.
- Anna Julia Cooper Dignity held like a prayer, for a long time, with no one to acknowledge it.
- Anne Bradstreet The faith that passes through doubt and loss, and gives thanks from the ordinary of a woman's life.
- Anne Comnène Holding the memory of those we have loved, when time would carry everything away.
- Anne Steele Asking, being refused, and going on praying without bitterness.
- Antoni Gaudí Working for what one will not see finished; attention given to the forms God has already made.
- Baal Shem Tov Fervent prayer: to enter with one's whole being into every word addressed to God.
- Bahya ibn Paquda Trust as rest: setting down what one was never able to carry.
- Bartolo Longo The turning around of a life given over to the dark; repeated prayer as a way of rebuilding.
- Bède le Vénérable Long, obscure work carried through to the last day, and study that turns into prayer.
- Benedetta Bianchi Porro Joy that remains as the body comes undone, and the certainty of being awaited.
- Bernard de Clairvaux The love of God as desire without measure.
- Blandine de Lyon Strength given to the weakest, when prayer holds upright what everything should bring down.
- Boèce The search for truth held fast in the night, and the mind that rises in prayer at the heart of misfortune.
- Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Ordinary life ordered toward Easter: living each day awaiting the night when all is raised up.
- Catharine Brown To know oneself small, and to want to carry one's own people anyway.
- Catherine de Gênes Pure love: to seek nothing for oneself in prayer, but God alone.
- Ceferino Namuncurá Preparing oneself to serve one's people, keeping them at the heart of one's prayer.
- Charles de Foucauld “His compassions are new every morning.” Charles de Foucauld made dawn itself a prayer: to begin with open hands, holding nothing back from the day before, and to entrust the coming hour to the One who has already gone ahead of it. His self-abandonment is not resignation. It is receiving the day as a gift already begun.
- Charles Péguy Hope as a little girl who leads the great virtues on, believing still in the morning.
- Charles Spurgeon Prayer as a rope pulled from below that makes heaven ring, and joy held even in trial.
- Charlotte Elliott Coming without having arranged anything about oneself, with the conflict and the fear still intact.
- Chiara Corbella Petrillo Trust that welcomes life as it comes, and looks at everything in the light of eternity.
- Chiara Gambacorta Prayer that is not ashamed to count what is missing.
- Chiara Luce Badano The trusting yes to God in suffering, and the heart that still loves when all is taken away.
- Christiana Tsai Ceasing to ask why, in order to ask what there is to do.
- Corrie ten Boom Forgiveness received before it is given: when loving is beyond our strength, God gives the love along with the command.
- Cyrille de Jérusalem Taking beginners by the hand, and opening the mysteries step by step.
- Desmond Tutu Justice sought without hatred, and forgiveness held as the only future for wounded peoples.
- Dhuoda de Septimanie Prayer held across distance, when love can only write and entrust the absent one to God.
- Dorothe Engelbretsdatter The evening prayer of someone who has counted what is left.
- Douceline de Digne Prayer held as the tie that holds everything else.
- Égérie Prayer that sets out on the road, curious for the places where God let Himself be found.
- Elizabeth Fry Dignity restored to the forgotten, and the conviction that no one is beyond recovery.
- Elizabeth Prentiss The request to love more, repeated in the hollow of grief and of featureless days.
- Emily Dickinson Prayer held at arm's length, and held all the same.
- Emma Rooke The prayer of someone writing to another who has lost the same thing.
- Eric Liddell Staying useful where one is shut in, and believing that nothing is lost.
- Etty Hillesum Prayer in the midst of darkness. Keeping the heart large.
- Fannie Lou Hamer Prayer that rises and sets out walking: believing that God acts through those who refuse to resign themselves.
- Faustine Kowalska Trust in mercy, above all when one knows oneself poor and weak.
- Florence Li Tim-Oi Serving without a title, and waiting decades without bitterness.
- Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Putting one's faith into poems for those who have no platform.
- Francis Thompson God pursuing the one who runs, and reaching him at the end of the running.
- François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận Hope in the present tense: when the future is confiscated, filling with love the minute at hand.
- Frederick Douglass Refusing to confuse God with what is done in his name.
- Frère Laurent de la Résurrection “Come to me, all you who are weary.” The rest he promises is not the end of work, but a presence within it. Brother Lawrence found it among the pots of his monastery kitchen: doing the smallest task for the love of God, and never doing it alone. The tiredness remains; the weight is shared.
- Frère Roger de Taizé Trust of the heart: a simple prayer, sung and silent, that reconciles what was separated.
- Gemma Galgani The bare desire for God when he alone remains, the love that is enough for everything.
- Georges Bernanos Hope as a risk to be run, receiving everything as grace.
- Giorgio La Pira Putting prayer at the beginning of action; taking the whole world as the subject of intercession.
- Godric de Finchale A song received rather than composed, and long faithfulness to a single place.
- Grégoire de Narek Offering God one's very groans, lament turned into prayer.
- Grégoire de Nysse The desire for God that is never satisfied: to move endlessly, from beginning to beginning, toward the One we never finish finding.
- Guillaume de Saint-Thierry Love treated as an art, learned only from the one who gave it.
- Habib Guirguis Patient stubbornness in the service of beginners; handing on the faith as a whole life's work.
- Hannah Whitall Smith The plain trust that lays down the burden and believes God, without proof or feeling.
- Harriet Jacobs To pray from a crawl space, and to refuse to lie about what one has lived.
- Harriet Tubman Active trust in God that sets one walking toward freedom, for oneself and for others.
- Hélder Câmara Hope that takes risks: keeping watch in the night and believing the desert can bloom.
- Henriette Delille Faith that decides a life: to believe, to hope, to love, and to follow it through to the end.
- Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia The desire to learn held against everything, and prayer stammered in a language not one's own.
- Henry Vaughan Light that gives itself at night, and grief that turns into watching.
- Herrade de Landsberg Patiently gathering what you have received, in order to hand it on.
- Hildegarde de Bingen Creation shot through with a divine sap, and the praise that rises from all that lives.
- Ignace d'Antioche Desire that passes through fear: wanting God even in what costs the most, holding nothing back.
- Ignacia del Espíritu Santo Foundation against the current, patience under suspicion, dignity claimed for local women when the Church itself doubted them.
- Innocent d'Alaska Patient proclamation that draws near to a language and a people.
- Isaac le Syrien Radical honesty about the inner life, tenderness toward human weakness, a theology of mercy wide enough to unsettle the strict.
- J. R. R. Tolkien Recognising the light at the heart of the world's story, hope that holds out against the dark.
- Jacinta Marto A child's prayer for the world, the simple offering of small sorrows.
- Jacques Berthieu The prayer of someone who sows without seeing anything come up.
- Jacques-Désiré Laval The freely accepted wearing-out of self in service of the poorest, and the trusting expectation of rest in God.
- Jean Climaque Climbing step by step: the spiritual life as patience, where the highest prayer is still a child's.
- Jean Damascène Incarnate prayer: to raise the mind to God who drew near even in matter.
- Jean Donovan Staying with the little ones when the reasonable thing would be to leave.
- Jean Hus Holding to what one has understood, even alone, even without support.
- Jeanne Jugan Chosen littleness, which awaits all from God and serves the forgotten.
- Jeanne Mance Going to nurse where nothing yet exists; the stubbornness of foundations no one signs.
- John Bradburne The long wandering that finds at last its rest in serving the most rejected.
- John Bunyan The way of faith as a pilgrimage through trial, grace greater than sin.
- John Coleridge Patteson Real affection for those one has come to serve, and work carried on without seeing its fruit.
- John Donne Shared frailty that binds the living together, and the longing to be wholly seized by God.
- John Greenleaf Whittier Silence asked for in the middle of one's own noise.
- John Henry Newman The prayer of sufficient light: not to demand a distant view, but to consent to today's single step.
- John Newton Repentance that comes late and works anyway, and grace found wider than the memory of the harm one has done.
- José Sánchez del Río A child's faithfulness stronger than fear, the gladness of self-gift.
- Joseph Wresinski Refusing to let poverty silence anyone; treating dignity as a right and not as alms.
- Joséphine Bakhita Forgiveness that outgrew unspeakable cruelty, a name reclaimed from irony into gratitude, freedom found finally in belonging to God alone.
- Juda Halevi The longing for a place one may never see, which orients everything else.
- Julie Billiart Unshakeable trust in the goodness of God, held even through the ordeal of the body.
- Julienne de Norwich Trust against all evidence: believing, from the depth of night, that love will have the last word.
- Kaʻahumanu The prayer of someone carrying too heavy a load, who says so.
- Katharina Schütz Zell Consoling by letter those one cannot reach.
- Katharina von Schlegel A legacy reduced to almost nothing but a single hymn, stillness urged onto a soul from someone who left almost no trace of her own, anonymity that let one work speak for a whole life.
- Laura Vicuña The hidden gift of oneself for the salvation of those one loves.
- Léonie Martin The hope of new beginnings: when nothing works the first time, trust ends up opening a way.
- Lucie de Syracuse Keeping the heart free for God, carrying light in the middle of the night.
- Macrine la Jeune Intelligence placed at the service of faith, and peace before death in one who has loved God since childhood.
- Madeleine Daniélou Uniting the love of God and the work of the mind, awakening souls.
- Madre Castillo Making of bitterness a nest you can live in.
- Mahalia Jackson Sung prayer: to lift up hope when the voice carries what words cannot say.
- Mama Antula Boldness that perseveres: when the roads seem closed, walking on anyway and letting Providence smooth them.
- Marcel Van The little way of love, when life is reduced to almost nothing.
- Marguerite d'Youville Unshakable trust in the Father's Providence, in the very heart of loss and destitution.
- Marguerite de Navarre Prayer turned into song, when fear or illness has taken up all the room.
- Maria Gabriella Sagheddu Giving one's life so that the divided may be one, praying where one does not understand.
- Marianne de Jésus de Quito Offering one's life for one's people, praying in secret for the whole city.
- Marie l'Égyptienne The turning of a life, and the long patience of conversion.
- Martin Luther King Prayer that disarms: to draw from God what it takes to answer hatred with love.
- Mary MacKillop Doing all you can with what you have, and calmly leaving the rest to God.
- Mary McLeod Bethune Bequeathing what one did not receive, so that others may have it.
- Mary Prince Testimony given by the one who endured, and hope held while nothing is resolved.
- Matt Talbot Starting again one day at a time; a deliverance not told but held.
- Matta el-Meskeen Prayer as God's work in us before it is our effort: stepping into a labor already begun.
- Matthias Mulumba Kalemba The patience of the body when there is nothing left to do but last.
- Mechthilde de Magdebourg Love as a current that carries the soul, and the trust to let oneself be plunged into it.
- Monique Patient, stubborn prayer for those we love, held through the years.
- Nahman de Bratslav The free, spoken conversation with God, and joy chosen against the sadness that stifles.
- Niijima Jō (Joseph Neesima) The prayer of a man praying in a half-learned language, and the desire to teach his own people held through years of exile.
- Olaudah Equiano Freedom wrested from injustice, and Providence discerned in the smallest ordeal.
- Omelian Kovch Staying where you are of use, even when a door opens to leave.
- Onésime Nesib Giving his people the Word in their own tongue, turning slavery into gift.
- Óscar Romero A voice that prays aloud on behalf of those who have been silenced.
- Padre Pio Making prayer a daily weapon, handing anxiety over to God.
- Paul Gerhardt The song that keeps standing when everything else falls.
- Paul Le Bao Tinh Joy that holds firm at the bottom of the trial, because one is not alone there.
- Paulina du Cœur agonisant de Jésus Staying beside the people no one else will look after.
- Pauline Jaricot Making prayer and giving into shared works, where the smallest, joined together, carry the whole world.
- Phillis Wheatley Praise wrested from the night: singing mercy without silencing injustice.
- Polycarpe de Smyrne Keeping and handing on the faith received, and standing firm to the end without raising one's voice.
- Rafqa Suffering received and offered, without bitterness, joined to Christ's.
- Rebecca Gratz Consoling without claiming to measure another's grief.
- Richard Baxter Meditation kept as a regular appointment, and the humility that comes of the frequenting itself.
- Rita de Cascia Living through what one did not choose; refusing revenge even when it would be owed.
- Robert Southwell Poetry as the breathing of faith, and gentleness kept under duress.
- Romanos le Mélode The Gospel sung as living drama of the human heart, and prayer carried by beauty.
- Rose de Lima The certainty that trial is not a dead end but a passage, and that grace comes after.
- Salomon ibn Gabirol Praise that knows it will not reach its object, and complaint that dares be spoken inside the prayer.
- Samuel Ajayi Crowther The prayer of the freed one: to give thanks for deliverance and to pass it on to one's own.
- Sarah Flower Adams The longing to draw near, using what hurts as a step.
- Séraphin de Sarov Paschal joy as the climate of an entire life, the fruit of long hidden prayer.
- Silouane de l'Athos To pray for all people, even one's enemies, and to hold on to hope at the very edge of despair.
- Sisoès le Grand To begin again each day, never supposing one has arrived.
- Sol Hachuel Refusing to be given another name, even under threat.
- Sophrony d'Essex The descent into the hell of despair carried through into light, and the name of God held in the depth of the heart.
- Stefan Wyszyński Firmness without bitterness; the patience of a man who counts in decades rather than in victories.
- Suzanne Aubert Stubborn hope that lets God settle things in his own time.
- Syméon le Nouveau Théologien The living experience of God as light, offered to all and not to the perfect alone.
- Takashi Nagai Praying and hoping from a sickbed, when everything lies in ruins.
- Thea Bowman To bring to God all that one is, holding back nothing of one's history.
- Théodoret de Cyr Consolation written to someone one actually knows, and dispossession quietly kept up for twenty-five years.
- Thérèse d’Avila Interiority as a place of indestructible peace.
- Thérèse de Lisieux Love as vocation. Sanctity at the height of a child.
- Toru Dutt To keep writing to the end of a short life, and to hold in silence the hand of those one loves.
- Venance Fortunat Praise sung while walking, holding up what words alone could not hold.
- William Cowper Faith held by a man who cannot feel it, and friendship keeping alive what the darkness would put out.
- William Wilberforce The perseverance of a conscience enlightened by prayer, holding firm for decades in a just fight.
- Yeghishé Holding on to one's faith when told to give it another name.
- Yohanan ben Zakkaï What remains when the holy place is destroyed: study, prayer, and kindness given back.
- Zélie Martin Holiness in an overloaded daily life: work, children, bereavements, and a trust that holds everything together.