From “Pilgrims” to “Apostles of Hope”: Cardinal Brislin Urges Catholics to Carry Hope into a Darkened World

In his homily on December 28, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Cardinal Brislin reflects on the shared journey Catholics have undertaken over the past year, emphasizing that faith is never a solitary path.

“Our journey of faith is not one that involves undertaking isolation,” he said, adding, “We undertake it together with all people of faith.”

The Local Ordinary of Johannesburg Archdiocese following his transfer from the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town in October 2024 described the Jubilee Year as a reminder that Christian hope is not an escape from reality, nor a walk into uncertainty.

“Neither is the journey into darkness and the unknown,” he further said, explaining that “our destination is here and we are heading for the light that dispels all darkness.”

While the Jubilee Year has formally ended, Cardinal Brislin stressed that hope itself has not. “To say that we have reached the end of the year of hope is not to say that our pilgrimage of hope is over,” he said, adding, “Neither has it been that hope itself has come to an end.”

Instead, Cardinal Brislin framed the closing of the Jubilee as a moment of commissioning. Over the past year, he noted, Catholics were reminded that they are “people of hope” with a responsibility to share that hope with others.

That responsibility, he said, now deepens. “As this holy year comes to an end, we all need to transform from being simply pilgrims of hope to being apostles of hope.”

He explained this new calling as a mission to be “messengers and ambassadors of hope” and “the instruments of God to bring hope into the world that is so often filled with darkness.”

For him, this mission is urgent in a world marked by confusion, superficiality, and spiritual hunger. “The world we are living in is yearning for hope, thirsty for truth and hungry for meaning,” he observed, warning that a culture shaped by social media and the unchecked spread of information often leaves “an emptiness in hearts searching for purpose.”

Cardinal Brislin cautioned against placing ultimate trust in material success or secular ideologies. “The falsity of secularism and materialism is an attempt to build one's house on standard ground that cannot withstand the storms of life,” he said, adding that created things, however beautiful, are ultimately fleeting.

“As much as we may need the material things of life, they can never be the source of our hope,” the South African Cardinal who started his Episcopal Ministry in January 2007 as Bishop of Kroonstad Catholic Diocese said.

True hope, he insisted, is rooted in God alone. “Our hope is only to be found in the impossible,” the Cardinal said, and continued, “If we do not have God in our lives, then indeed what can we hope for?”

Acknowledging the deep spirituality of African societies, Cardinal Brislin lamented that for many believers, faith does not sufficiently shape daily life, noting that “those baptized Catholics… have frequently not been formed in the faith.”

Linking the Jubilee’s conclusion to the Feast of the Holy Family, Cardinal Brislin highlighted the central role of families in transmitting faith and hope. “Family is the foundation of society,” he said.

“If there are happy and strong families, there will be a happy and a strong society,” he said, and went on to stress that it is within the family that faith is meant to be passed on, and yet warned that many parents settle for sacramental participation without deeper Christian formation.

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“The family itself is meant to be a place of faith, of prayer, of safety, a place of community,” he said, emphasizing that “faith is transmitted through others and consequently hope is transmitted through others.” Families, he added, are meant to be “places of hope” because “the only real and solid hope we have is in Christ Jesus.”

The South African Cardinal who was appointed to the Vatican Dicastery for the Clergy in August 2025 underscored that Christian faith is not merely doctrinal but experiential.

“Our faith is not simply a set of beliefs, of doctrines,” he said, adding that faith “is a lived experience.” Living that faith, he explained, requires fidelity: to God, to others, and to oneself.

Fidelity to God involves loving Him fully, while fidelity to others is expressed in love, care, and sacrifice, especially within families. Fidelity to oneself means living according to one’s values, without compromise.

As Catholics step into the future as “apostles of hope,” Cardinal Brislin said they must rely on divine grace. “We are dependent on God's grace working in us, God's grace working for us and God's grace working through us,” he said, and added that through prayer and faithful living, believers become “instruments of hope for others.”

He challenged Catholics not to remain passive in the face of injustice and dehumanization. “It is for us, as apostles of hope, to fight against those evils by denouncing injustice, outrage and advocating for the dignity of each and every person, especially those who are powerless, vulnerable, weak and voiceless,” he said.

Drawing from the prophet Isaiah, the Cardinal who was transfer from the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town to Johannesburg in October 2024 reminded the people of God of His tenderness toward the wounded and marginalized.

 “A bruised wreath he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not quench,” he said. Without God’s love, he warned, humanity is left “in a hopeless and desperate situation.”

Cardinal Brislin called on family members and communities to become centres of love and justice, promoting peace and resisting anything that diminishes human dignity or destroys hope.

Invoking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the South African Cardinal prayed that Christians would remain faithful to their calling and “bring hope to the world.”