Reflection on Jubilee Year of Hope
The full Associates’ Newsletter, ‘Nano’s Echo,’ can be found on ‘Friends of Nano’ page
By Caroline Thompson, Nano Nagle Associate, Australia
Let us train ourselves to recognise hope. We will then be able to marvel at how much good exists in the world. And our hearts will light up with hope. We will then be able to be beacons of the future for those around us (Pope Francis, 6th November 2024).
Pope Francis, in his book Hope is a Light in the Night, invites us to be pilgrims of hope in a world that desperately needs an infusion of love, compassion and care especially for those made poor and vulnerable. In his call for a Jubilee Year of Hope in 2025, Pope Francis ramped up the challenge for us to be active agents of hope in our communities, taking concrete action to bring about a more equitable and caring society. It is a call to transform hope into tangible acts of kindness and solidarity, making a real difference in the lives of others.
As we journey as Church and as Presentation People in this Jubilee Year of Hope, we can take inspiration and encouragement from the lives of pilgrims who have gone before us.
Nano Nagle was certainly a Pilgrim of Hope in the dark and cruel streets of 18th century Cork. Sustained by her belief in God’s love for all people, Nano’s schools brought hope to a people languishing under penal oppression, abject poverty and misery. Parents sent their children to be educated in these schools knowing that this was a path out of poverty – a very real hope for their future.
Nano stood in solidarity with the poorest of Cork’s citizens, visiting the sick and isolated, those in prison and the frail elderly. Imagine the glimmers of hope in the hearts of Cork’s poor as Nano’s lantern light bobbed its way through the dark streets, in all weather, bringing food, warm clothes and the gift of loving presence.
Nano’s work reminds us that being a pilgrim of hope is a day-by-day commitment to helping those in our own communities who struggle. Her daily pilgrimages to visit her schools and her nightly forays into the dank alleyways of Cork’s poorest areas changed lives. Her pilgrim work was not without trials. Nano faced imprisonment, suspicion and relentless opposition from those who feared the change she represented. Yet, her hope never wavered.
Nano’s life and work epitomise Pope Francis’ call for everyone of us to be a beacon of hope for the future.
As Sr Anne Lyons PBVM writes: ‘She (Nano) opened what Pope Francis termed ‘windows of hope’. Daring to do what no one else at that time would risk, she opened ‘gateways of transformation’ for countless people. In championing the cause of the poor, she became a voice for the voiceless and a hope for the hopeless. The Nagle family motto, Non vox sed votum, ‘Not words but deeds’, leapt from the family plaque and was writ boldly on the canvas of her life (The Story of Nano Nagle. Messenger Publications. Dublin. 2021. 7)
In this Jubilee Year of Hope may we, as Presentation People sharing the proud legacy of the work of Nano Nagle and countless Presentation People around the world, commit ourselves to being pilgrims of hope in our place and time. May we look for ways to make a difference, however small, to those who have lost hope for whatever reason. May we open ‘windows of hope’ this Jubilee year.