Living in Hope – online reflection

The second of the Doorways of Hope series of 3 online reflections is Living in Hope, on Wednesday 14th March, 7:00pm to 8:00pm.

Paula Shanks and Monseigneur Donal Lucey will explore how living in the flow of life offers invitations to a deeper sense of hope. 

This is part of the invitation to be ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, looking at ways of noticing the nature and presence of hope, what it means to live this hope and how we can share hope with others in our ordinary, daily lives. 

Please do join us for Living in Hope on Tuesday 18th March, just email growing.old.gracefully@dioceseofleeds.org.uk.

Eastertide Reflection: Hope by Pippa Bonner

This is Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Hope. We are encouraged to be Pilgrims of Hope amidst the traumatic global events of war, climate change, political swings and poverty and injustice that currently confront us. 

Currently we are all concerned about the war in Ukraine, in the Middle East and elsewhere. We do not know the eventual outcome, but I believe we must have hope and pray.

Hope, we know, is more than optimism and being positive, important as those states of mind are, and easier for some than others.  Hope comes from deep faith that ultimately “All will be well”, as Julian of Norwich believed and shared from her mystical experiences. 

Recently I was with a 90 year old woman who was deeply asleep. She awoke and immediately said with a smile, “All will be well.”  She is bed bound and, to the onlooker, now apparently leads a very restricted, limited life. What an amazing proclamation to have made when she awoke! I experienced this as an example of mature, graced hope and a great reminder to me and others. We must never underestimate older people..!

Easter is the pinnacle of hope for Christians, who believe that Jesus was resurrected from death following his crucifixion.

We are redeemed and part of God’s eternal plan. After the terrible pain and anguish of Holy Week, Christ, has risen from the dead and is full of transformed life. He appears a number of times to his followers before Pentecost fifty days later when they receive the Holy Spirit and are given the gifts and strength to carry on Jesus’ work of spreading the Word and transforming peoples’ lives. We are encouraged in 2025 to carry on His work, using our Spirit-given gifts and experience to live and share the Word, with each other, now and every day. This can be in small, quiet ways as well as more publicly. We can pray for each other.

When I was asked to write a Reflection for Easter and Pentecost time it was January. This time frame is not unusual. I immediately agreed to write it. Usually I write something quite quickly.  But not this time. Why? 

I have realised now the delay was to do with me and life events. I was going through a challenging time. I was recovering from planned surgery that I had waited for a long time and also coping with a recent house move. I knew these were the reasons for my writing something: but also why I had to sit with the changes in my life and ‘the now’ of January before thinking ahead to the opening up and hope of the Easter Message.

This was the reason for my delay…the liturgical journey after Jesus’ birth in Christmastide is to travel with him through his daily life of teachings, signs and miracles, and then Lent, through his wilderness experience, his experience of rejection, suffering and crucifixion towards Resurrection. Although I make this liturgical journey every year, this time it has been different.

I have had to learn to walk again. I have felt pain and had the temporary experience of not driving, and needing to rely more on others’ help and kindness.  I have had to let go of the family home with three sets of stairs and the stress of selling it These are experiences shared by many older people. I have had the support of family and friends and my situation is temporary, but it has not been easy. However, I also constantly feel grateful I do not live in the rubble of Gaza or Mariupol, or as a refugee on a long journey from war, drought or persecution.

I realise that the Pope’s Jubilee Year of Hope is here at the right time for me – and I suggest for all of us – as it emphasises the importance of hope and kindness. Pope Francis talked on a Radio 4 Today Programme, Thought for the Day, at the beginning of the Jubilee Year of Hope in December 2024.  Several times he emphasised the importance of hope with kindness. He said  “I hope that during this Jubilee we can practise kindness as a form of love to connect with others.” I think in our daily lives, trying to live as Pilgrims of Hope kindness can be part of the Jubilee “glue” in our family, parish and community that particularly older people can offer. It can be contagious and can “stick”!

Life is full of hope and challenge, ups and downs. Over the years my morning prayer has morphed into offering everything that happens during daily life that is good and bad, the hopeless and hopeful:

“Today I offer You the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the boring and the mad”. 

It encompasses everything. It seems to me that God makes use of our negative experiences and challenges as well as the positives and blessings we are given.

There is hope…May we all at Eastertide work together with hope and kindness and offer our Gifts to each other at Pentecost as we try to be Pilgrims of Hope and Kindness.

Pippa Bonner

Easter 2025

Video and summary sheet of Glimpses of Hope online reflection

On Tuesday 18th March 2025, we held the first in the Doorways of Hope series of online reflections led by Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey & Paula Shanks, as part of the Pilgrims of Hope Jubilee year.

The reflection explores the theme of ‘Springtime’ to explore how we can awaken to the invitation to be renewed in hope, a hope rooted in God who chooses to be with us in how things are, where we are.

You can watch the whole session on YouTube here.

There is a one page summary produced by Paula here.

Glimpses of Hope – online event

The first of the Doorways of Hope series of online events is is Glimpses of Hope, on Tuesday 18th March, 2:30pm to 3:30pm,

Paula Shanks and Monseigneur Donal Lucey &will explore the the theme of ‘Springtime’ to explore how we can awaken to the invitation to be renewed in hope. A hope rooted in God who chooses to be with us in how things are, where we are.  

Over the course of the three hour long talks and reflections, Paula and Mgr. Lucey will explore the invitation to be ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ and will offer ways of noticing the nature and presence of hope, what it means to live this hope and how we can share hope with others in our ordinary, daily lives. 

Please do join us for Glimpses of Hope on Tuesday 18th March, just email growing.old.gracefully@dioceseofleeds.org.uk.

Video from Finding Hope in Community and Parish Life

Growing Old Grace-fully has been hosting a series of six online events in 2024, on a variety of different themes exploring later life. The sixth and final of these events was Finding Hope in Community and Parish Life, which was on Tuesday 19th November 2024.

The session had three presentations from people who have found hope in parish life or a Christian community group – Susan Clarkson, Maureen Crossley and Carol Burns – and prayers and reflections.

The video of this session is available to watch on YouTube here.

Online Event – Finding Hope in Community and Parish Life

Growing Old Grace-fully‘s has been hosting a series of six online events in 2024, on a variety of different themes exploring later life.

The sixth and final of these events is on Finding Hope in Community and Parish Life on Tuesday 19th November. This afternoon session will start at 2.30pm and finish at 3.30pm.

This final session of the series evokes the hopefulness of Advent, which is just around the corner and also looks forward to the Jubilee Year of Pilgrims of Hope in 2025 as announced by Pope Francis.

The session will involve some examples of people who have found hope in parish life or a Christian community group; a chance to share in smaller groups people’s stories of hope and joy; and prayers and reflections.

To attend, reserve a free ticket on Eventbrite here.  

A Zoom link will be circulated to all ticket holders in advance of the event.