Progress will not Save Humanity – The title of the Inquirer.net article immediately caught my attention. I started reading the article and got to the second paragraph. I then asked myself, Why should I rely on someone else’s opinions about Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical letter entitled Spe Salvi? And so I searched the net for the actual text and found it in the official Vatican website.

I copied and pasted the text to MS Word and it ended up as a 29-page document on a normal template. It was my reading assignment last weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, before I continue, I would like to say that this is not a critique of the Pope’s message. I am not in a position to challenge the Pope’s knowledge of theology and its applications in our world. These are my personal reflections. I would highly recommend my Christian brothers and sisters, even the non-practicing ones, to do the same - read the letter for yourselves and reflect on it. There are many news articles about it in various newspapers but they’re all influenced by the newswriter’s views as to what’s important and significant. So may want to read it for yourself and write down your personal thoughts on it.

I’ve chosen three categories for my reflection and it is the structure of my three-part blog:
1. Three things I can personally relate to (Part 1)
2. Four things that are not in-sync with my personal beliefs (Part 2)
3. Five statements that need more evidence/discussions (Part 3)

To support my reflections, I’ve copied the corresponding text directly from the Pope’s letter and indicated which number from the text it was lifted from.

Three Things I Can Personally Relate To (Part 1)

1. Hope is Important to Live the Present and the Future

“Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become to live the present as well…The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.” (No.2)

“It is important to know that I can always continue to hope, even if in my own life, or the historical period in which I am living, there seems to be nothing left to hope for. (No. 35)
A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer.” (No. 32)

“All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action.”(No. 35)

“We can open ourselves and the world and allow God to enter: we can open ourselves to truth, to love, to what is good.” (No. 35)

“In the midst of this storm I cast my anchor towards the throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart.” (No. 37)

2. Believing in Jesus (Being a true Christ-ian)

“We see clearly what both educated and simple people found in Christ: he tells us who man truly is and what a man must do in order to be truly human. He shows us the way, and this way is the truth. He himself is both the way and the truth, and therefore he is also the life which all of us are seeking. He also shows us the way beyond death; only someone able to do this is a true teacher of life… The realization that there is One who even in death accompanies me, and with his “rod and his staff comforts me”, so that “I fear no evil” (cf. Ps 23 [22]:4)—this was the new “hope” that arose over the life of believers.” (No. 6)

“Jesus, who said that he had come so that we might have life and have it in its fullness, in abundance.” (No. 27)

“Being in communion with Jesus Christ draws us into his “being for all”; it makes it our own way of being. He commits us to live for others, but only through communion with him does it become possible truly to be there for others, for the whole.” (No. 28)

“As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should also ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too the star of hope may rise? Then I will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well.” (No. 48)

3. How to achieve your immediate and future goals and your ultimate goal

“Human life is a journey. Towards what destination? How do we find the way?… The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope.” (No. 49)

“Ultimately we want only one thing—”the blessed life”, the life which is simply life, simply “happiness”. In the final analysis, there is nothing else that we ask for in prayer. Our journey has no other goal—it is about this alone.” (No. 11)

“God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control” (No.9)

“Faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a “not yet”. The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future.” (No.8)

“Knowing how to wait, while patiently enduring trials, is necessary for the believer to be able to “receive what is promised” (No.9)

“By delaying [his gift], God strengthens our desire; through desire he enlarges our soul and by expanding it he increases its capacity [for receiving him]”. (No. 33)

“Suppose that God wishes to fill you with honey [a symbol of God's tenderness and goodness]; but if you are full of vinegar, where will you put the honey?” The vessel, that is your heart, must first be enlarged and then cleansed, freed from the vinegar and its taste. This requires hard work and is painful, but in this way alone do we become suited to that for which we are destined. Even if Augustine speaks directly only of our capacity for God, it is nevertheless clear that through this effort by which we are freed from vinegar and the taste of vinegar, not only are we made free for God, but we also become open to others. It is only by becoming children of God, that we can be with our common Father. To pray is not to step outside history and withdraw to our own private corner of happiness. When we pray properly we undergo a process of inner purification which opens us up to God and thus to our fellow human beings as well. In prayer we must learn what we can truly ask of God—what is worthy of God.” (No.32)

Continue on to:
Four things that are not in-sync with my personal beliefs (Part 2)
Five statements that need more evidence/discussions (Part 3)

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