" 'There are also times in life when a person has to rush off in pursuit of hopefulness,' Jean Giono says, making a distinction between hope (espoir) where one's heart is set on someone or something and hopefulness (esperance) where one's heart is open to the mystery. When my heart has been set for a long time on someone or something and has come to loss or disappointment, then it is time for me to rush off in pursuit of hopefulness. Something like this seems to have happened to the disciples of Jesus at his death. 'We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel' the two disciples say on the way to Emmaus. When they meet with loss and disappointment in his death, they turn from the hope they had to the new hopefulness of his resurrection. The paradox of his life and death illuminates the paradoxes of his teaching: the hope of the Beatitudes is a hopefulness open to the mystery. So too if I go from hope to hopefulness, I open myself to the unexpected in my life. Instead of going over and over my loss and disappointment, I open myself once more to the mystery that shows and withdraws in my life.
"To 'rush off in pursuit of hopefulness' is to set out again upon the adventure of my life. I think of the moment in Tolkien's trilogy when Frodo contemplates setting out on his adventure:
" 'He did not tell Gandalf, but as he was speaking a great desire to follow Bilbo flamed up in his heart — to follow Bilbo and even perhaps to find him again. It was so strong that it overcame his fear: he could almost have run out there and then down the road without his hat, as Bilbo had done on a similar morning long ago.'
"Setting out again upon the adventure of my life means setting out again upon the great circle of love that comes from God and goes to God. It means setting out once again upon 'the road of the union of love with God.' It means following Christ. I say 'setting out again' because I can get diverted from the adventure of my life by setting my heart on someone or something. To set out again I have to make the move then from espoir to esperance, from a heart set on someone or something to a heart open to the mystery."