Where do you find hope?
In the time of the prophet Jeremiah, Israel is long gone and Judah will soon disappear as well. Yet the Lord looks forward to restoration: The days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah, he says. The Lord wants his people to know that one day Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure, manifesting God’s divine justice. Even at the darkest moments, we are called to hope. Our readings in the first weeks of Advent look forward to the end times, when all will come to fulfillment; we are called to step back and think about how we are participating in progress toward salvation. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus acknowledges that there are dark times ahead: on earth nations will be in dismay, and people will die of fright. Yet Jesus’ followers know better than to be overwhelmed; rather, they must stand erect because their redemption is at hand, knowing the Lord is with them, always.
When fear takes hold of us, it’s hard to hold to our hope. But, in fact, we need precisely to pass through the struggle to find redemption, opening ourselves to the experience and remembering throughout all of our travails the one who loves us and stands with us and came for our salvation. We are never alone; God’s grace is at work in us even when bad things happen. God sent his Son to die on a cross so that he would be with us forever; we must, as Paul tells the Thessalonians, strengthen our hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus. No barriers – and certainly not fear – should keep us from growing in the love we have been baptized into. Indeed, we must increase and abound in love, seeking the paths of the Lord, as Psalm 25 reminds us. We are called to grow in our relationship with the Lord, remaining open to learning every day how much God loves us, and where we fit into God’s plan. God is allowing our world to unfold, and God is carrying us through, until we stand before him, ready to meet him, unafraid. We, for our part, must hope in his love, confident that all the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant. God will fulfill God’s promise, and we will one day dwell in his perfect love – that is our hope. In the meantime, let us remain confident in his love, and increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we wait for the fulfillment of God’s promise.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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