Pilgrims of Hope

Father Solanus Guild Reflection by Br. George Kooran, OFM Cap. – June 2, 2025

The more I read, the more I hear, the more I know about Father Solanus, he keeps surprising me. How could a man have such a great trust in God? How could someone always breathe God like that? Yes, every breath of him was for the love of God. He had no other thing to talk about.

As anyone who has read or heard about Father Solanus might know very well, he had immense confidence and trust in God. Hundreds of stories about him and hundreds of letters written by him have come down to us. From all that we know, he always emanated this confident trust in God. Just like our Blessed Mother, it is his lowliness, faith and his hope that won favor with God. This we can read from the many biographies of Father Solanus. To anyone who came to him seeking help, prayer, advice or healing, his first gift was this hope which he powerfully instilled in them. They returned home with an embellished sense of trust in God.

“Pilgrims of Hope” is the theme Pope Francis gave us for the Jubilee Year 2025. Hope is a theological virtue that refers to the strong confidence and trust in God’s promises that we received through Jesus Christ our Lord. I believe, Father Solanus is our right model and our help to grow in this theological virtue and become a Pilgrim of Hope. Once he wrote: “Thank God for hope, the soul of our happiness here…” Since hope does not disappoint us, anyone who has hope should be a happy and contented person. “Confidence in God” according to him is “the very soul of prayer.”

I think, we should simply practice this hoping and trusting in God just the way Father Solanus did. By immensely being grateful, by taking the Scriptural promises seriously, by praying to God – thanking Him ahead of time, and by practicing happiness in simplicity.

Father Solanus, pray for us.