Last month, I had the privilege of serving as a judge for a national writing contest for teens. I was randomly assigned to the poetry category, which left me somewhat anxious. Other than pages of song lyrics I composed in high school, I’ve not written poetry. I’ve read some, but not a lot.

I asked for prayers and the guidance of the Holy Spirit as I read entries and did my very best at evaluating the poems entrusted to me. Writing, and poetry in particular, can be very personal. And subjective.

The selection of poems impressed me, mainly because of the heartfelt emotions the students bared. And while some poems were a bit clumsy or poorly written, many demonstrated great skill.

What struck me most about the poems, however, was not their level of quality, but the hopelessness that marked many of the entries.

Now, I know that a hopeless poem is not necessarily reflective of the author’s disposition. An author could write in character. Or a poem could reflect a fleeting mood. It could merely be the author working through a particular emotion or circumstance. (Goodness knows that someone reading my personal journal would get a skewed look at my life reading only about those issues that spurred me to pick up a pen and write my way through them.)

Still, putting aside all those explanations, it seemed these poems by young people, who you might expect would tend to be optimistic or idealistic, proved mainly to be dark and depressing. Emo, I guess you could say.

A single poem among dozens was written about romantic love. A couple of poems meditated on people or things of beauty. The rest remained mired in broken relationships with parents, self-doubt, and darkness.They lacked a key element: hope.

What is hope?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” (1817)

Here is what the poetry I read was sorely, sadly missing:

“The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hope that inspires men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. (emphasis mine) Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.” (1818)

In my opinion, any good book, Christian, Catholic or otherwise, demonstrates hope, but hope is a hallmark of the books written by Catholic Teen Books authors. In them, you will find sadness, loneliness, disillusionment, grief, fear, and a slew of negative emotions that afflict us all. But always, always, there is hope.

Hope 'keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. ' CCC 1818 Share on X

The Catholic Teen Books listed below highlight hope in a special way:

• A Soldier Surrenders – Susan Peek
• Angelhood – A.J. Cattapan
• Brothers – Corinna Turner
• Elfling – Corinna Turner
• Fight for Liberty – Theresa Linden
• I Am Margaret – Corinna Turner
• Someday – Corinna Turner
• The Destiny of Sunshine Ranch – T.M. Gaouette

[This article first appeared in the Catholic Teen Books monthly newsletter. To subscribe, click here.]

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