Dominican Friars
Province of St. Albert the Great, USA

A Word of Hope

A Word of Hope

Paul preaches to the leading philosophers of his day... to mixed reviews. We are all called to share our faith, not to convince others.

Acts 17:15,​22-18:1

While Paul was waiting for Barnabas and SIlas in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

So Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.”
Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ At that point Paul left them. But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

(Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America)

A Word of Hope with dove

Every day the Chicago Dominicans offer "A Word of Hope" video to bolster our faith through these trying times. You can see them here, and you can have them emailed to you each morning by signing up for our email service:

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    20 Mar • Integrity

    Hanaiah, Azariah, and Mishael chose to be cast into the fire rather than worship a Babylonian god. People will expect us to do all sorts of things, be all sorts of people. Do we know ourselves and have the integrity to act with integrity?
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    19 Mar • How to have a happy death

    On this Feast of St. Joseph, we remember him as the patron saint of happy deaths, since he died presumably with Mary and Jesus at his side. Some planning ahead and conversing with loved ones can make your dying moments more likely to go better.
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    18 Mar • Courage and mercy

    Today's readings are full of sin, but in the first, courage and wisdom are shown to be more powerful than sin, and in the Gospel, mercy is stronger than sin. So we acknowledge sin in the world, but also that it is not the whole picture.
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    17 Mar • Turn to the cross

    This is the point in Lent when we turn with Jesus to face the cross ahead, hearing the words, "unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest."
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    13 Mar • Dive in

    The Prophet Isaiah invited those who were suffering to come out and feel God's saving power. We are also invited to dive into the river of God's grace, and to invite others to do the same.
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    12 Mar • Down the road

    Ezekiel had a vision of a trickle of water flowing from the temple, but growing greater and greater as it flowed through the world. In the same way, the recognition of the dignity and call to mission that baptism confers on all people that was affirmed at the Second Vatican Council is bearing greater and greater fruit as the years pass.
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    6 Mar • What you have seen

    In Deuteronomy we hear, "Do not forget the things your own eyes have seen." We need to remember that today, for we have all seen glimpses of the great things God has done for us in the first words or first steps of a child. It is what we have already see that should give us hope for what is possible in our world.
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    5 Mar • Forgive 77 times

    Jesus challenges us to forgive not 7 times, but 77 times. This does not mean that we need to have warm feelings towards them or to reconcile with them, but it is the first step of the process that opens then way to these possibilities. Can we hope that the person who hurt us might grow? Can we help bring this about through forgiveness?
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    28 Feb • Right side up

    Jesus tells his followers whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant. This is looking at the world the way God sees it, the right way up, unlike when we have allowed our own vision to be skewed, thinking servanthood is low.
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    26 Feb • God is merciful

    Jesus tells us to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful. We do not have to wait for heaven to experience God's mercy, it is available every day in the confessional.
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