Happy Birthday Holy Father!

from spe salvi

2. According to the Christian faith, "redemption"-salvation-is not simply a given. Redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey. Now the question immediately arises: what sort of hope could ever justify the statement that, on the basis of that hope and simply because it exists, we are redeemed? And what sort of certainty is involved here?

from our National Spiritual Advisor:
Without the hope of our redemption, the future direction of our lives is missed. I think the Holy Father is teaching us not to rely on ourselves but to recognize that we are redeemed and that we needed to be redeemed. We cannot save ourselves. But it is not enough to recognize that we cannot save ourselves. That might lead us to despair. Our hope lies in something more - that the Lord has come to us to offer salvation. This changes the way we look at the present, no matter how difficult it may be, and the future, not matter how far off it may seem. Msgr. Andrew Vaccari