Dare to Hope
Father James McTavish, FMVD
ISBN 9781784698508
eISBN 9781784698737
ASIN B0FGY3YPTY
CTS Booklet D855
This is the first volume from Father James McTavish that I have read, I believe it is the only one of his available from the CTS. I enjoyed this book. I did not know much about the volume before I started reading it. I had picked it up because it was a new release from the CTS. The volume was published towards the end of the Jubilee 2025 Pilgrims of Hope, and draws a fair bit from the works of Pope Francis on hope, and to a lesser extent Pope Benedict XVI.
Over the last several years, I have read many books from the Catholic Truth Society, in fact over 460 of them as of the reading of this volume; many read more than once; this all since the spring of 2018. Most were good reads; some were great reads; and a few are exceptional. This was one I believe is part of the Devotions and Prayers Series, but the CTS no longer focuses on series sets. The tags for it on the CTS site are:
Faith in Action
Prayer Books & Guides
Prayer & Devotion
Living Faith
The description of this volume is:
“This self-guided retreat on hope will help you to become hopeful people prepared to announce the Good News to a world where many despair. With daily meditations spread across four weeks, this book is ideal for private devotion, as well as for online communities and weekly parish groups.
Often mistaken for mere optimism, Christian hope is far deeper. Inspired by the Jubilee Year 2025 – and the invitation of the late Holy Father Pope Francis to become ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ – Fr James McTavish, FMVD, guides us as we take the first steps on this journey.
Daily meditations over four weeks follow weekly themes:
‘What is Hope?’
‘Reasons to Hope’
‘Hope Amidst Struggles'
‘Sowers of Hope’
By the end of this self-guided retreat, we can become hopeful people prepared to announce the Good News to a world where many despair.
This book is ideal for private devotion, as well as for online communities and weekly parish groups.”
The chapters and sections in the book are:
Preface
Introduction
Week 1 – What is Hope?
Introduction to Week 1
Hoping and praying
Hoping and listening (and dancing)
Drawing hope from the road already travelled
Hope and our vocation
Hope and trust
Hope and a sense of mystery
Walking forward in hope
Week 2 – Reasons to Hope
Introduction to Week 2
The Holy Spirit and hope
Hope in humility
Hoping with the Saints
Hope for our departed loved ones
Ever hopeful in God’s mercy
Hopeful missioning
Mary, the Mother of Hope
Week 3 – Hope Amidst Struggles
Introduction to Week 3
Hoping and groaning
Hoping through struggles
Being patient
Hoping as desiring
Enemies of hope
Training in hope
Hoping in the light
Week 4 – Sowers of Hope
Introduction to Week 4
Sowers of hope
Hope and our response
Anchoring our hope in Christ
Hopeful signs of the resurrection
Witnesses of hope
Teaching hope
A melody of hope
Conclusion
I highlighted a few passages while reading this volume, some of them are:
“This book highlights the vital role of prayer in nurturing hope. Hope is both a gift we can pray for and a task we are called to live out.”
“This book invites us on a pilgrimage of hope, guiding us through reflections and questions that help us rediscover its meaning and cultivate it in our daily lives.”
“My hope is that this simple yet profound journey will help you find renewed strength in a hope that transforms, perseveres, and overflows to those around you. May we deepen our trust in God’s promises and become true signs of hope in a world that needs it so greatly.”
“We begin our pilgrimage with enthusiasm. We would like to grow in hope. So, we are going to specifically exercise our hope muscles. We all have inklings of hope in us already, shown by the fact that we hope for many things. But we desire to grow in hope, we desire to practice hope. A principal way to do this is to pray.”
“At the beginning of our hope-filled prayer journey, I feel it is important to exercise our thanksgiving. My capacity to give thanks is closely related to the extent of my hope.”
“Excerpts taken from “The Dance of Obedience” (English translation by Mgr Peter Fleetwood) To be a good dancer, with you as with anyone else, we don’t need to know where it’s leading. We need to follow, to be cheerful, to be light, and above all not to be stiff. We don’t need to ask you to explain the steps you choose to take. Lord, come and ask us to dance. … And if people bump into us, we’ll laugh it off, well aware that that’s the sort of thing that happens when you’re dancing. Make us live our life… like a dance, in the arms of your grace, in the universal music of love. Lord, come and ask us to dance.”
“When we look forward to the future, we can feel slightly perturbed, and even lose a bit of hope. But if we look back, at the road travelled with God, we might feel more peace and hope because God had been faithful and trustworthy. Rooting ourselves in this lived experience of hope, gives us more confidence and hope for the future!”
“The danger is to drown in the present moment, with no past to sustain us and no future to look forward to. I understand why Fr Elias Royon Lara, SJ, speaks of hope as a virtue which looks to the future, is lived out in the present, and is rooted in the lived experience of the past.”
“Hope then can be understood as a kind of holy carrot that keeps this stubborn donkey moving. Like the donkey constantly asking Shrek, “Are we there yet?” And Shrek constantly has to remind him, “No!” So let us not set up camp too early amidst the comforts and commodities of this world. The gift of hope is precisely that inbuilt safety mechanism in us that helps prevent us from settling for mediocrity and second best. Hope is like a compass in us, or the GPS that is constantly saying “Keep moving.”
“Ask for the specific grace to grow in the awareness, conviction and hope of God’s abiding presence along every step of our journey.”
“The work of God in the lives of the Saints gives hope to each one of us.”
“Whenever I encounter a person with an addiction, for instance to alcohol, I pray for the intercession of Venerable Matt Talbot (2 May 1856–7 June 1925). He was an Irish labourer, who overcame his dependence on the “demon drink” and thereafter lived a holy life. He was known to have said, “Never be too hard on the man who can’t give up drink. It’s as hard to give up the drink as it is to raise the dead to life again. But both are possible and even easy for our Lord. We have only to depend on Him”. When facing moral questions, I always like to have a heavenly chat with St Alphonsus Liguori, the patron of moral theology in the Catholic Church. And of course, in many areas of human life, St Joseph is a powerful and wonderful intercessor.”
“Personally, you and I are a mission in this world. You are a mission–you have a mission, a specific one that only you can fulfil.”
“Sometimes in moments of struggles, and when I am not attentive, my default mode is not automatically hope-full, but more hope-less! So, hope my soul, hope!”
“On our journey of hope, we too will encounter various Herods. And the worst Herod is not merely outside of us, but within! We all have our kind of internal critic and nagging voice that can lead us to discouragement and to lose hope. Travelling in a pack, with a community of support, is one way to overcome Herod. The other is perseverance and not to stop too long on the journey.”
“It is as if the star is moving, guiding them. It reminds us that the stars we have to follow are dynamic, and require a response for us to follow the way indicated. The star can lead us closer to Christ, the light of the world. Who or what is the star that has led you closer to God?”
“God wants to have a mature, grown-up relationship with us too. He gives us the necessary gifts and graces and he then expects us to get on with it! I like the attitude of St Joan of Arc: “Act, and God will act”.”
“The Lord is hoping that we will be faithful administrators of the graces we have received.”
“The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist gives body to the words: “I am with you always” (Matt 28: 20). How comforting and reassuring, when all around is different, to find Jesus again in the Eucharist.”
“Now fasting a bit from junk on social media means our brains will have more time for wholesome food like a Church document or even to do a course of theology. They say “use it or lose it” so reading some Church teaching is great exercise for our grey matter. It prevents brain rot from excess screen time and will help teach us how to think once more.”
I hope those quotes give you a feel for the volume. This volume is a fairly easy read, anyone with a secondary education could easily work through it. I was unaware of the format when I picked it up and started it. It might have sat on my ‘To Be Read’ pile longer if I was aware of that. I was already reading 2 other volumes that were a chapter a day format; one from the ‘15 Days of Prayer with …’ series and the other from the ‘Great Spiritual Teachers’ series. I did however enjoyed this book. A couple of times I had to read sections again, and once I reread the whole day to make sure I got the message. I even shared one chapter with a friend who I knew was struggling with some stuff in their personal life. And I hope they pick up and give the whole volume a read.
This book is a good read. I am thankful for the work that the CTS does, and for their effort to stay up to date on eBook editions. With my dual form of dyslexia and my son having eye tracking issues I consider them essential, especially with adaptive technology. Even though I started this right at the end of the Jubilee year it was a fitting book to close off the year; even if I finished it a few weeks late. A good read I can recommend.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.
Jubilee of Hope 2025 Book List:
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Notes on Prayer Series:
1. Prayer Today: A Challenge to Overcome - Cardinal Angelo Comastri
2. Praying with the Psalms - Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi
3. The Prayer of Jesus – Juan Lopez Vergara
4. Praying with Saints and Sinners - Fr Paul Brendan Murray, OP
5. The Parables of Prayer – Msgr Antonio Pitta
6. The Church in Prayer - Carthusian Monks
7. The Prayer of Mary and the Saints Who Met Her - Sr Catherine Aubin, OP
8. The Prayer Jesus Taught Us: Our Father - Fr Ugo Vanni
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Books by Father James McTavish:
A Heart on Fire: Inspirations from the life and writings of Jaime Bonet
A Time of Mercy: Insights on Mercy from Jaime Bonet
Form Apostles: Jaime Bonet and the Development of the Verbum Dei Charism
Jesus the Divine Physician: Essays on spirituality and healthcare
Sharper Than a Sword: Sunday homilies for the three year cycle
Updates on Gender and Sexuality
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