The Healing Journey

August 7, 2023

“To live without hope is to cease to live.”
– Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Dolores Hart was 24 when she left behind a successful career in Hollywood for a contemplative life as a nun. After making 10 movies, including several with Elvis Presley, she entered the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn.

She has written about it in her autobiography titled, “The Ear of the Heart: An Actress’ Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows.” And in 2011, she was featured in the HBO documentary, “God Is the Bigger Elvis,” which was nominated for an Academy Award.

In the film, Mother Prioress Dolores Hart, OSB, talks about human suffering after a man visits to tell her about his unsuccessful search for a woman who raised him like a mother. She urges him to not lose hope. She later says, “I think people come to speak to us about every possible form of suffering that hits the human heart. My role is to help a person to discover that you can always find hope … and if you can find hope, you might find faith.”

The same is true of the healing journey. Those who attend retreats on bereavement are looking for hope, much like that man’s desperate search for the woman who raised him.

We live in a society overwhelmed with despair. People have lost hope, and instead of nurturing the belief that tomorrow can be better than today, they’re stricken with the fear that tomorrow will be worse than today. Things can only get worse, they believe, especially after the loss of a loved one pulls the carpet out from under them. They see no reason to hope. And yet, as Mother Hart says, “You can always find hope.” The first step is to ask for it.

St. John Paul II, who lived a life defined by suffering from the time he was a child, once said, “I plead with you — never, ever give up on hope; never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged.”

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The healing journey can be difficult. But don’t give up hope.