Swaziland’s Bishop: In 2017 live in hope and discard fear

In 2017, no longer living in fear but in hope is the message of the Bishop of Manzini in Swaziland to Christians. Bishop Jose Luis Ponce de Leon has used his 2017 New Year message to encourage the Faithful to live lives of hope and not of fear.

The Bishop says, “We seem to live lives marked by fear: Fear about the future; Fear to talk…Fear of each other… Fear of foreigners... Fear of other religions…Fear of terrorist attacks…(you might add other fears you are experiencing). Where there is fear, there is no peace. This is our common experience.” According to the Bishop of Manzini, Christians should be people of hope. 

He adds, “I believe fear paralyses us, while hope makes us work and work together towards something new. It is much more than just not being afraid of something. It is making possible a different present and future.”

The Bishop continues, “Hope (as Pope Francis says), ‘opens new horizons, makes one capable of dreaming what is not even imaginable. Hope makes one enter the darkness of an uncertain future to walk in the light. The virtue of hope is beautiful; it gives us so much strength to walk in life. However, it is a difficult way,’” the Bishop said.

Bishop Ponce de Leon says that every year Catholics celebrate the 1 January as A Day of Prayer for Peace. He says that this peace is to be understood as “an end to living in fear.” Peace thus translates into “hope.” With hope and without fear, the human person is fully alive.

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