The world needs hope

Pope Benedict’s newest encyclical was released today. Spe salvi is On Christian Hope.

Here’s a small snip, from the end:

It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain. In this way we further clarify an important element of the Christian concept of hope. Our hope is always essentially also hope for others; only thus is it truly hope for me too.40 As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should also ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too the star of hope may rise? Then I will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well.

Vatican Information Service released a summary of the pope’s writing, highlighting some of his thought.

The Pope recalls that Jesus “did not bring a message of social revolution” like Spartacus, and that “he was not engaged in a fight for political liberation like Barabbas of Bar-Kochba.” He brought “something totally different: … an encounter with the living God, … an encounter with a hope stronger than the sufferings of slavery, a hope which therefore transformed life and the world from within, … even if external structures remained unaltered.”

This is fascinating. I’m waiting to read the whole thing, until I have the time to really absorb these words and the hopeful message they speak.