Stories of reconciliation with life, with Dan Jusino, Founder and CEO of EMERGE, a re-entry, transitional work program for ex-inmates, and Tommaso Bardelli (moderator), Political Science PhD candidate, Yale University.

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In his Letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul speaks of God as 'the God of hope' (15:13). It is as if Paul wants to say also to us: 'God hopes.' While this may seem paradoxical, it is true: God hopes! His mercy gives him no rest. He is like that Father in the parable, who keeps hoping for the return of his son who has fallen by the wayside (Lk 15:11-32). God does not rest until he finds the sheep that was lost (Lk 15:5). So if God hopes, then no one should lose hope. For hope is the strength to keep moving forward. It is the power to press on towards the future and a changed life. It is the incentive to look to tomorrow, so that the love we have known, for all our failings, can show us a new path. In a word, hope is the proof, lying deep in our hearts, of the power of God’s mercy. That mercy invites us to keep looking ahead and to overcome our attachment to evil and sin through faith and abandonment in him.
~Pope Francis, Homily at the Jubilee Mass for Prisoners, November 7, 2016

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