At a Lay Centre event, Sarah Bernstein, David Neuhaus SJ, and Safa Younes reflect on hope through three religious and cultural perspectives.
By Anastasia Pinto
As part of the ongoing Jubilee Year celebrations, The Lay Centre hosted an event on May 27 titled “A Journey of Hope.” Featuring three speakers from the Holy Land, the gathering—attended both in person and online—invited participants to explore hope not as an abstract concept, but as a tangible, lived experience. Representing the three Abrahamic faith traditions, each speaker offered a distinct perspective on the meaning and practice of hope in the face of today’s global challenges, with a particular focus on the Middle East.
- WATCH THE FULL RECORDING OF THE EVENT (YouTube)
“Whatever our state of life, we cannot live without these three dispositions of the soul: to believe, to hope, and to love.” With these words from St. Augustine, Dr. Filipe Domingues, director of The Lay Centre, opened the event at the organization’s headquarters in Rome. The gathering welcomed friends, Vatican officials, and diplomatic representatives from Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, and Ireland, among other distinguished guests.
Beyond Despair: Hope as an Act of Resistance
Dr. Sarah Bernstein, Executive Director of the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue in Jerusalem, was the evening’s first speaker. She shared a deeply personal reflection on hope amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
Recounting the harrowing experience of the October 7th attacks, she described the immediate chaos, personal losses, and the widespread trauma affecting both Israelis and Palestinians.
Among the heartbreak was the tragic death of her friend’s brother—an emblem of the shared suffering across communities. She revealed not only the pain and trauma experienced by all sides but also the urgent need to confront the hatred that had become normalized within society. “How do we find hope in this terrible situation? Is hope even a relevant concept, given how bleak everything seems?” she said.
However, she emphasized the moral imperative to face these painful realities with honesty, recognizing the entrenched divisions while refusing to succumb to hopelessness.
Dr. Bernstein also highlighted the critical role of education in fostering hope and peace, detailing the Rossing Center’s work with schools, teachers, and communities to integrate peace education alongside traditional subjects.
Peace has to be taught with the same seriousness as Math or Science, she said, nurturing empathy and resilience from the earliest stages of life. Drawing on the Hebrew concept of tikva, she invited listeners to see hope as both a fragile thread leading toward a better future and a sacred wellspring of strength sustaining them in the present.
“It is up to us to hope, to insist on hope, to continue to act in the face of overwhelming odds and crushing opposition,” she said, challenging all present to make hope an active, enduring commitment.
Hope: Waking up
Rev. Dr. David Mark Neuhaus, S.J., a professor of Sacred Scripture and a respected scholar in both Israel and Palestine, spoke under the heavy shadow of grief. He recounted the recent bombing in Khan Yunis, Gaza, where a woman named Ilal Najar lost nine of her ten children while she was away serving as a hospital nurse. With quiet intensity, he described a world that feels increasingly stripped of mercy and empathy—a world where the lights of hope have been extinguished, one by one.
Quoting the prophet Zephaniah, Fr. Neuhaus painted a stark portrait of our time: leaders without conscience, justice systems that devour the vulnerable, and religious figures who betray the sacred. He did not shy away from naming the despair, acknowledging the cruelty and devastation unfolding daily in the Middle East—and the growing temptation to numb ourselves or simply look away.
Yet rather than offering shallow optimism, Fr. Neuhaus, speaking as a Christian, invited the audience into a radical honesty shaped by faith. He spoke of a hope not rooted in illusion or vague dreams of the future, but grounded in the memory of resilience and resurrection.
Hope, he reminded them, is an essential part of Christian faith—even when the surrounding reality insists otherwise.
The Resurrection of Christ is the highest expression of hope for his followers. “The faith born before that empty tomb—that he is risen—is part of who I am,” Fr. Neuhaus said. “This hope does not look toward vague promises on a distant, illusory horizon. Rather, it looks back, remembering that God is good, even when darkness seems to prevail.”
The Path to Growth from Distress and Crisis
Ms. Safa Younes, the third speaker of the day, is a specialist in bereavement counseling as well as a social entrepreneur, humanitarian, and advocate for women’s rights. She introduced the concept of Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG)—the idea that individuals can experience positive transformation in the aftermath of trauma. Drawing on her experience working with African refugees and asylum seekers during her master’s studies in emergency management at Tel Aviv University, she offered a powerful reflection on the resilience that can emerge from deep suffering.
Drawing from her work, Ms. Younes shared how, beyond the visible pain and trauma, she witnessed powerful signs of resilience, hope, and even psychological growth among the people she served. This experience inspired her to explore what enables some individuals to find strength, purpose, and meaning after enduring profound suffering.
She described Post-Traumatic Growth as a positive psychological transformation that often follows trauma. She outlined five core areas where this growth commonly appears:
- stronger relationships
- a deeper appreciation for life
- increased personal strength
- openness to new possibilities
- spiritual transformation
She emphasized that hope—whether real or imagined—is a vital force driving this growth. Education, she explained, plays a crucial role in nurturing hope, serving as a bridge toward recovery and transformation. Highlighting the importance of social and spiritual support, Ms. Younes asserted, “Hope is not something we wait for; it is something we build, and it is our responsibility to bring it to the people.”
Photo: Biagio Tamarazzi
