At times we can be tempted to lose hope both in the world and in ourselves. We see all the death and destruction around us and begin to doubt that there is a plan in it all.
One way we can increase more hope in our lives is simply to pray.
It may sound too simple, but as with many things in life, sometimes the simplest things are what provide a solution.
Prayer
Pope Benedict XVI explains this idea in his encyclical Spe salvi, emphasizing the connection between prayer and hope:
A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer. When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me. When I have been plunged into complete solitude ...; if I pray I am never totally alone.
He then points to the example of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan as a beacon of hope:
The late Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, a prisoner for thirteen years, nine of them spent in solitary confinement, has left us a precious little book: Prayers of Hope. During thirteen years in jail, in a situation of seemingly utter hopelessness, the fact that he could listen and speak to God became for him an increasing power of hope, which enabled him, after his release, to become for people all over the world a witness to hope—to that great hope which does not wane even in the nights of solitude.
Having a firm hope without God is impossible. We need God's love and mercy in our lives in order to hope, trusting that there is a plan to our lives.
Even in the most desperate of situations, the more we pray, the more we are able to increase hope in our hearts.
