By St. Francis Caracciolo, CRM
Merciful God, I firmly hope that with Your help and the good deeds done with Your grace I will enter into your eternal glory.
Even if I have committed many grave sins, even if I have lived a life of freedom and turned away from You.
Even if I was guilty of all the sins from the beginning of the world till today, You, God of love and mercy would forgive me.
I certainly hope with the help of Your grace to overcome all difficulties of this life to live in the land of the living forever. Amen.
Reflection:
Hope is a virtue that sustains all desires, dreams and plans. Ultimately hope will take us into the future and the kingdom of God, a gift that begins now. There are moments in our life when Christian hope is tested and we doubt and despair, but God’s grace which we ask in prayer will sustain and restore our hope.
St. Francis was not only a man of faith but also hope. There are events in his life that testify to this. He and Fr. Agostino Adorno were facing many difficulties when working for the approval of the order by Church authorities. St. Francis was sustained by a firm hope that the Order would be approved and it was. In all his life, St. Francis was guided by the hope that God would bless and fulfill his desires and plans for the Order of Clerics Regular Minor.