Hope is a never ending road.

"The only unforgivable sin is despair."

That is where I finished last week and where I begin this week on the never ending road that is life.

Last week, Pope Francis wrote a letter to every Catholic, to the People of God, on the tragic issue of sexual abuse.  As I become more aware of the scale and the horror of the issue, I find myself feeling more angry and more ashamed.  However, what is the point of such feelings if they simply are feelings standing in isolation? 

While Francis admits shame over what has happened, at the heart of his letter is humility.   I think I could have started the letter as follows - "With a sorrowful and humble heart, I ..."  Yes, start there but not finish there. 

In facing any difficulty or need of humanity or self, humility is a good place to base one's stance.  Anger and shame need to be named and owned in such issues in our world but move on in humility.  This allows for the Other to take the lead, for a future that is not mine alone nor defined by me alone so as to open up for the sake of others.   Humility means that I do not have to do it all, that I do not have all the answers, nor should I.  Otherwise, in any serious issue facing humanity or in helping desperate populations, it is all just too much and you are overcome by the awesome impossibility of all that needs doing or righting.  You end up going nowhere and just wallowing in anger and shame. 

Too many people, too many leaders, too many people of both church and society lack humility and so life becomes a race for power and keeping it. We then lose so much opportunity to create something better for others, something beyond ourselves.  We become overcome by our own fears, rather than be overtaken by the hope that is ever enduring in faith.  Despair does not have to be the outcome and it never should be, no matter what we face.  Despair is the unforgivable sin.