{"id":1492,"date":"2010-01-20T05:56:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-20T05:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look\/"},"modified":"2017-01-24T19:13:10","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T00:13:10","slug":"because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html","title":{"rendered":"Because Hope is There, but Not Where We Look"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>After the votes were counted last night and after I was asleep, my iPhone received two text messages from my friend Lorenzo, who never sleeps. The first was \u201cBrown WINS Massachusetts!!!!! Yeah!!!!\u201d The second was: \u201cAmericans with this understood that Obama is not the answer to the hope, it is the end of the idea of Obama holding the hope.\u201d
<\/a>
We do not \u201cdo\u201d politics at YIM Catholic. Neither Frank nor I endorsed a candidate. (Like, who would care?) But the remarkable thing about Lorenzo\u2019s exultant messages is, they are not political either.<\/p>\n

I am one of the millions who hoped in Obama a year ago. Note that I did not say I voted <\/i>for him (that\u2019s my business). But I allowed myself to hope<\/i> that, with his election, things would be different now. I bought into the belief that a political solution\u2014which is to say, any \u201cfinal answer\u201d formulated by government\u2014can change the world.<\/p>\n

A couple of things happened since that election a year ago. First, I became ever more convinced of the wisdom of the Church\u2019s positions on social issues. Second, and far more important to this discussion, <\/i>I read and studied with my local School of Community<\/a> Fr. Luigi Giussani\u2019s second book in the trilogy Is It Possible to Live This Way? <\/i>The second book is titled Hope. <\/i><\/p>\n

To get straight to it, hope, according to Fr. G, is founded in faith, and faith is founded in a fact. That fact is the Incarnation, the Presence of Our Lord in the world, two thousand years ago and today. The only real hope must be built on this foundation. While I have not yet read the third book in the trilogy, Charity, <\/i>I am expecting it to tell me that \u201cthe form of all virtues\u201d can only be built on a foundation containing Christian faith and hope.<\/p>\n

In the the so-called Fraternity Exercises from a CL meeting in 2009<\/a>, Giussani\u2019s successor, Fr. Juli\u00e0n Carr\u00f2n, makes an even more challenging assertion. He writes (and I am paraphrasing) that not even Catholics\u2019 defense of life can stand apart from this foundation. Without true hope founded on faith in the fact<\/i> of Christ\u2019s presence in our lives, no political position <\/i>will stand up against the winds that blow. I urge you to read some of Fr. Carr\u00f2n\u2019s words in the pdf document at the link in this paragraph.<\/p>\n

I pray for our President daily, as I\u2019m sure Frank does, and as the liturgy of the Mass does too. But here and now I make a pledge: I will not hope in him or in any President any longer. And I\u2019m sorry to tell you, Scott Brown, senator-elect, but I promise not to hope in you either.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the votes were counted last night and after I was asleep, my iPhone received two text messages from my friend Lorenzo, who never sleeps. The first was \u201cBrown WINS Massachusetts!!!!! Yeah!!!!\u201d The second was: \u201cAmericans with this understood that Obama is not the answer to the hope, it is the end of the idea […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBecause Hope is There, but Not Where We Look<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After the votes were counted last night and after I was asleep, my iPhone received two text messages from my friend Lorenzo, who never sleeps. The first\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Because Hope is There, but Not Where We Look\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After the votes were counted last night and after I was asleep, my iPhone received two text messages from my friend Lorenzo, who never sleeps. The first\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Why I Am Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-20T05:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-25T00:13:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_-GKMR8mFGBs\/S14mWPvMxSI\/AAAAAAAAANg\/pjo_Xvd1CB0\/s200\/ScottBrown.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Webster Bull\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Webster Bull\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html\",\"name\":\"Because Hope is There, but Not Where We Look\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-20T05:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-25T00:13:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79\"},\"description\":\"After the votes were counted last night and after I was asleep, my iPhone received two text messages from my friend Lorenzo, who never sleeps. The first\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Because Hope is There, but Not Where We Look\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/\",\"name\":\"Why I Am Catholic\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79\",\"name\":\"Webster Bull\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Webster Bull\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/author\/websterbull\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Because Hope is There, but Not Where We Look","description":"After the votes were counted last night and after I was asleep, my iPhone received two text messages from my friend Lorenzo, who never sleeps. The first","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Because Hope is There, but Not Where We Look","og_description":"After the votes were counted last night and after I was asleep, my iPhone received two text messages from my friend Lorenzo, who never sleeps. The first","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html","og_site_name":"Why I Am Catholic","article_published_time":"2010-01-20T05:56:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-25T00:13:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_-GKMR8mFGBs\/S14mWPvMxSI\/AAAAAAAAANg\/pjo_Xvd1CB0\/s200\/ScottBrown.jpg"}],"author":"Webster Bull","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Webster Bull","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html","name":"Because Hope is There, but Not Where We Look","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-01-20T05:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-25T00:13:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79"},"description":"After the votes were counted last night and after I was asleep, my iPhone received two text messages from my friend Lorenzo, who never sleeps. The first","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-hope-is-there-but-not-where-we-look.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Because Hope is There, but Not Where We Look"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/","name":"Why I Am Catholic","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79","name":"Webster Bull","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Webster Bull"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/author\/websterbull"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}