I would like to reflect with you on the figure of a woman who speaks to us about hope lived in tears. Hope lived in tears. This is Rachel, wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin: she who, as the Book of Genesis tells us, dies while giving birth to her second-born son, which is Benjamin.
The Prophet Jeremiah refers to Rachel as he addresses the Israelites in exile, trying to console them with words full of emotion and poetry; that is, he takes up Rachel’s lament, but gives hope:

Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not.” (Jer 31:15)

(~ from Pope Francis’ “A Light in the Night – Meditations on Hope.” (Jubilee 2025), ‘Rachel Does Not Want Consolation’)

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

Do not surrender to the night; remember that the first enemy to conquer is not outside: it is within you. Therefore, do not give space to bitter, obscure thoughts. This world is the first miracle God made. God has placed the grace of new wonders in our hands. Faith and hope go forward together. Believe in the existence of the loftiest and most beautiful truths. Trust in God the Creator, in the Holy Spirit who moves everything toward the good, in the embrace of Christ who awaits every man and woman at the end of their life. Believe – he awaits you. The world walks thanks to the gaze of many men and women who have opened up breaches, who have built bridges, who have dreamed and believed, even when they heard derisive words around them.

(~ from Pope Francis’ “A Light in the Night – Meditations on Hope.” (Jubilee 2025), ‘Do Not Surrender the Night’)

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children forever. Amen.

The appearance of the image of the Virgin on the tilma of Juan Diego was a prophetic sign of an embrace, Mary’s embrace … (Pope Francis, 2014)

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us

…when people would come to Saint John Paul II to speak with him about a problem, the first question he asked was: “How do you see this in the light of faith?” When we sec things in the light of hope, they appear different.

(~ from Pope Francis’ “A Light in the Night – Meditations on Hope.” (Jubilee 2025), ‘Lighting the Torch of Hope’)

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.