Hope in Action - new book by Cardinal Vincent Nichols

Hope in Action - Reaching out to a World in Need by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, is published by SPCK on 3 September.

Hope in Action is based on various talks, lectures and broadcasts given by Cardinal Nichols between June 2015 and March 2017. In this inspiring and practical book, the Cardinal explores what we mean by Christian hope, what it means to be a disciple of mission, the importance of mercy, and how we can put our Christian hope into action to make a difference in our world today.

The Cardinal begins by his understanding of what hope is (as opposed to optimism): a vision that fires our imagination and passion, bringing together our understanding and our will, and moving us to do something to make a difference. There are 'fragments of hope' all around us, he writes, which encourage us along the way and direct us towards God, whose never-ending mercy is our ultimate reason for hope. As missionary disciples, we are in the communio of Jesus and we are sent to 'our colleagues, the curious and those who cry from the heart' to 'proclaim the gospel in a world that cries out for the hope it offers'. 'Jesus is the face of God's mercy,' the Cardinal writes. 'But we are to be the hands, voices and actions of that mercy in the flesh of our world today.'

In the second part of Hope in Action, the Cardinal explores what this means practically in a number of key campaigns and movements: ending sexual violence and abuse, ending human trafficking and slavery, offering hope for prisoners, and resisting religious extremism. Drawing on Pope Francis' call to 'help those who have fallen to get back up', he looks at how we can offer hope and promise to enable those who have suffered – and those who have committed offences - to start to build better lives. Each chapter includes questions for reflection or discussion at the end, encouraging the reader to engage more deeply with the text and the issues it raises. In a moving Epilogue, the Cardinal writes of the power of weeping as a true sign of what makes us human – whether tears of grief, pain, rage, regret, repentance or joy. 'Our tears', he concludes, 'must move us to act in ways that will help to heal these wounds in the body of humanity.'

Cardinal Nichols says: 'I feel that we are at a crucial moment. It seems as though a fairly long winter is slowly beginning to thaw, a winter in which there was a great opposition to the things of faith... But now I sense something of an opportunity... a more evident uncertainty in our society about how we should go about things, a troubled sense that all is far from well... There are indeed moments in which the small print of the messages of hope seemingly disappears from sight... Ours is surely the task of keeping alive these rumours of hope... and of knitting them together so that the far horizons of an eternal hope may never be lost to our sight... My hope is that this book... will encourage you to be strong in your faith and in the works of mercy that spring from it... We must strive to bring God's hope and mercy to the world. For this is our calling, our God-given wisdom.'

'What makes us human?... What holds us together across cultures, religions, gender and many other differences? Cardinal Nichols' answers are both deeply realistic and deeply hopeful.' Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury