The story of Cardinal Francis X. Nguyen van Thuan is one of the most harrowing and inspiring of the 20th century.
He had just been named coadjutor of the Archdiocese of Saigon when the Vietnamese communists seized power in 1975 and imposed a brutal dictatorship. They threw Archbishop van Thuan in prison, where he suffered for the next 13 years, nine of which he spent in solitary confinement. During these years he prayed and wrote messages to his people on scraps of paper that were smuggled out and later published.

The constant theme of his writings was hope. He once explained that the Christian is called to be a witness to the hope of salvation that was offered to us in Jesus Christ. “Christians,” he said, “are the light in the darkness, the salt where life has no savor and hope in the midst of a humanity which has lost hope.”

Cardinal van Thuan, who died in 2002 and is now being considered for possible sainthood, was one of the Church’s great prophets of Christian hope.

Hope is the theological virtue that enables us to keep our eyes on heaven — even during those times when our sufferings and trials make our lives here on earth seem like a living hell. By the gift of hope, infused in us at baptism, God helps us to trust in the good news of Christ Jesus, and to await confidently the blessings he has promised to those who believe in him.

Christian hope is not some kind of wishful thinking. Far from it. Christian hope is the only certainty in this passing world. Pope Benedict XVI said this very powerfully in his encyclical letter on hope, Spe Salvi.

All the “hopes” of this world are contingent and temporary. People hope for many things — for such things as work, material comforts, love and happiness. But these things, no matter how essential and beautiful, don’t necessarily last. We can lose our job, we can lose a loved one, we can have our freedom or our good health taken from us. If we have no greater hopes than these, then we are bound for a life of disappointments and sadness.

Christian hope — the hope of the cross — is not like that. “By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” said St. Peter. (1 Pt 1:3)

What do we hope for? For the fulfillment of Christ’s promise — that we who believe in him will have eternal life. (Jn 6:47, 54) What we hope for as Christians has already come true. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. What we expect in the future — heaven and eternal life, salvation and redemption — has already been guaranteed.

Because he has been raised from the dead, we can be certain in our hope that he will raise us, too, to eternal life. When we live with this kind of hope we are free even if we are in chains, as Cardinal van Thuan was.
Our hope in the resurrection should animate every aspect of our lives.
But like all the virtues, hope is hard to hold on to.

We can look at all the sadness and suffering in the world, perhaps even in our own lives, and be tempted to despair. We can also be tempted to the opposite extreme, to be presumptuous — we can presume that we’re able to do things on our own, ignoring the Gospel or without asking for God’s help.

We need to be on the look-out not to fall into these sins against hope. But we also need to have a positive plan to nurture the growth of this virtue in our lives.

Prayer is the great school for growing in hope. When we pray we realize that we are never alone. This is what kept Cardinal van Thuan going in those years of isolation. And he has good advice for us: “There is no need to be formal, simply pray from the heart — as a child to its Father.”

Set aside time daily for these simple conversations. Pray for yourselves and your loved ones; but also pray that the star of Christian hope may rise in the hearts of all our brothers and sisters.

And let us make a conscious effort, in all our actions, to be a source of hope for others. As Cardinal van Thuan said: “The road of hope is paved with small acts of hope along life’s way. A life of hope is born of every minute of hope in that lifetime.”