The Mother of God patiently and constantly speaks to us through her messages in which we see her optimism and hope in spite of the death, hatred, wars and divisions that rule the world. Our Lady is with us by God’s permission, so that we may not fall into despair. In all the crosses that may befall us, She does not cease to turn our eyes to God, to Heaven and to the light that God gives us through Her.

Man and humanity always face a choice: life or death, hope or despair. Human history, too, is divided into sin and holiness. On one side there are saints who lived and died for ideals and on the other side there are people who chose selfishness, hatred and killing.        

Our Lady told us, „Dear children!… Pray without ceasing! That way I will give you the joy which the Lord gives to me. With these graces, dear children, I want your sufferings to be a joy… I am not able to guide you as long as you yourselves do not experience joy in prayer… I beseech you, surrender to the Lord your entire past, all the evil that has accumulated in your hearts. I want each one of you to be happy, but in sin nobody can be happy. Therefore, dear children, pray, and in prayer you shall realize a new way of joy… Do not be anxious nor worried. God himself will help you and show you the way…  I am calling you to a complete surrender to God. Let everything that you possess be in the hands of God. Only in that way shall you have joy in your heart. Little children, rejoice in everything that you have. Give thanks to God because everything is God’s gift to you… Satan is strong and wants to sweep away plans of peace and joy… Little children, pray that you may understand that suffering can become joy and the cross the way of joy.”

   Also in this October message, Our Lady desires very much that we decide for the hope and joy that God gives us through her. It may seem to us, as Our Lady says, that humanity has chosen death, but there have always been, and there are today, individuals who have preserved hope and faith and have remained firm here on earth.

   As one poet says, “Hope is where there is none.” To have hope means to have one more possibility even in the impossible. Hope is when all human possibilities have been used up and when there is no way out. That is when God’s help comes. Hope is God. Hope is that which is not yet, but already is, and that which is being realized, but has not yet come to pass. Hope is the space between faith and love.

   The French poet Charles Peguy puts these words in God’s mouth, “Hope astonishes me!” The only great temptation for the saints was the temptation against hope. Peguy continues, “I am not surprised, says God, that they believe in me. All they have to do is observe my creatures and they will believe! Love, neither does it surprise me, for if they love each other, it is gain for them, and they benefit each other. But hope, hope astonishes me!”

Many social analysts talk about how we are living in a post-optimistic age. Pessimism is a disease of the spirit. It is often a kind of obsession with evil. And pessimistic believers are like the deserters of life who believe the world is evil and there is no help for it.

   Pope Francis speaks of hope in Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium as such, „ No to a sterile pessimism! One of the more serious temptations which stifles boldness and zeal is a defeatism which turns us into querulous and disillusioned pessimists, ‘sourpusses’.“ (EG 85).

   It is interesting to see how the Holy Scriptures speak of hope. In the Bible, hope is not some vague feeling or philosophical concept. It is something tangible, visible, a kind of passion. Hope is vigilance, struggle, and resistance.

   May Mary, the Mother of Hope, lead us to God, who alone is the source of hope, optimism, faith in the good, and the belief that our lives will end well, in God’s arms.

Let us pray: Our Lady, the Mother of Hope and Faith, you who have gone through all the trials of life since the moment when the angel Gabriel announced to you that you would conceive and give birth to the Son of God, intercede for us who so often lose hope and faith in goodness, in God. You who have come to the destination of our earthly journey, but who do not forget us, your children, intercede for us with Jesus that we may live our daily lives illumined by the light of Jesus’ victory over sin, evil and death. In a special way, we hand over to you, Mother, all those who are in despair, who have lost hope and who find themselves in the difficult trials of life. Into your hands, Mother Mary, we also place all those who are wounded by human wickedness, all those who see no way out of their difficulties in life and find themselves in danger of taking their own lives. Be a comfort and a hope to them, for it was never heard that you had abandoned anyone who had fled to thy protection. Amen.