In his second encyclical, SPE SALVI, Pope Benedict XVI encourages Christians to have hope in salvation. For catechists, this can be an opportunity not only to teach about hope but to teach how to allow hope to transform our students. The Holy Father explains that the Gospel message of hope is not only “informative” it is primarily “performative”, meaning it can change our lives (SPE SALVI, n. 2). As catechists we can surely teach about hope, but how do we teach others how to access hope and let it transform them? Pope Benedict gives us some “settings” through which we can learn and practice hope including prayer, upright action, suffering, and God’s judgment. His enlightening thoughts on prayer, which he calls a “school of hope” (n. 32), have the potential to give new light to the way we pray with our students.
Read a copy of SPE SALVI here.
Read the Rest of this Series:
Part II: Hope in Prayer Intentions
