Witness of Hope - Becoming What We Receive

A meme quoting Fred Rogers that surfaced during COVID pandemic days continues to circulate on social media. He said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

I’m feeling helpless a lot these days. Reading news of continued economic uncertainty, witnessing hateful speech and acts of violence, hearing stories of people detained, sent to internment camps, or deported without due process is indeed scary. I find it helps to limit the time I spend on news feeds and follow Mama Rogers’ advice: notice the helpers—see the people who give me hope.

Musicians, young and old, performing with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus help give me hope. The Grant Park Music Festival has offered free summer concerts in the City of Chicago since 1935. Prior to each concert, a member is invited to share a bit of their personal history with the Festival. Throughout the season, I’m encouraged by a shared belief threaded through their stories—expressing the power of live music to connect people across time, culture, and political persuasion, and to bring healing to what divides. The mutual affection between musicians and those who gather in Millennium Park gives me hope, as together we wryly embrace Michigan Avenue traffic in the acoustic background, delight in giggling children dancing on the lawn, and marvel as cicadas hum along in sync with the music. Joyful chatter abounds as we leave—feeling lighter and more hopeful than when we arrived.

Seeing my parish’s Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion on Sundays also gives me hope. Like many parishes that suspended reception of the Precious Blood during communion, ours had been slow to return to this fuller sign of our communion as the Body of Christ. To make this possible, we needed more people willing to help. This past year, I worked with parish staff to develop formation and training for new and returning Eucharistic Ministers.

Before diving into practicalities, our day began in prayer—with a guided Ignatian Contemplation of Luke’s version of the Last Supper (22:14-20), followed by spiritual conversation in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese language groups. Assisted by generous translators, people shared moving stories of the place of Eucharist and communion in their lives. I was gifted with new images to contemplate with Jesus’ words: “This is my body, given up for you. … This is my blood, poured out for you.”

One man recalled a moment when he was stunned into stillness while serving. A consecrated host had suddenly fallen from his hands. Seeing through the eyes of his memory, we watched as the priest next to him bent down, gently lifted and cupped the host in his hands before consuming it. He noticed the priest’s reverence. In my mind’s eye I saw this man—a St. Vincent de Paul Society volunteer—encountering Christ as he helps men and women who have fallen on hard times. His desire to serve Christ both at the altar and in his neighbors gives me hope.

On Sundays from my vantage point in the choir loft—making music with the congregation below—I receive hope as I contemplate the ministers and faithful during communion. I’m reminded of a verse in St. Thomas Aquinas’ sequence for the Feast of Corpus Christi:

When the Sacrament is broken,

Doubt not, but believe ‘tis spoken,

That each sever’d outward token

Doth the very whole contain.

Nought the precious gift divides,

Breaking but the sign betides

Jesus still the same abides,

Still unbroken does remain.

Whether encountering individuals broken or whole—whether gathered in the park with music lovers for an evening concert or in church with my community celebrating the Eucharist—when viewed through the eyes of faith, I receive consolation. I experience an increase of hope that we are becoming what we receive: a flesh-and-blood family, brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ, strengthened to go, serve, and help others—not because they are all Christians, but because we are.

Going Deeper:

• St. Paul reminds us that “since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses” we, too, must persevere—“keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus” (Heb 12:1). What helps you keep your eyes on Jesus? Who do you look to for hope and encouragement? Where do you find yourself helping Christ in another?

• A public figure giving me hope these days is the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C. She received national attention for her 2025 inauguration sermon. I’ve been reading and reflecting on her book How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith (2023). She shares examples from her own life and others’ that inspire hope and encouragement.

• Use Poured Out for You Ignatian Contemplation, the resource Jenene prepared for her parish’s Eucharistic Minister training, as guided prayer and reflection on the Body of Christ.

• Learn more about becoming a helper in Mary Ann Gessner’s Into the Deep post, Hunger and Thirst.

Photo by Jahanzeb Ahsan on Unsplash

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Jenéne Francis

Jenéne Francis is an aspiring contemplative in action who finds writing creative non-fiction and short fiction a fruitful spiritual practice. She also enjoys adapting and offering the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius for days of reflection and retreats. Jenéne recently retired from the Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus after many years supporting Jesuits and colleagues who serve retreat houses, spirituality programs, parishes, and as hospital chaplains and other pastoral ministers. Having spent her first career at the Procter and Gamble Company in product development and manufacturing, followed by more than 20 years in Jesuit ministry, Jenéne gets great satisfaction offering her engineer’s head and poet’s heart for “the greater glory of God.”