Advent Reflection, December 3: The Gift of Hope

First Sunday of Advent

Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/120306.shtml
Jeremiah 33: 14-16
Psalm 25
1 Thessalonians 3:12 - 4:2
Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36

This past week I was talking on the phone to a young woman who lives on Long Island. Margaret graduated from Boston College last May and this week she will be traveling to Nicaragua to begin a two-year commitment to volunteer service with the poor of that country. Margaret is from a very faith-filled family. She is a talented and lively person with whom it is very easy to talk. You never have any trouble keeping a conversation going with Margaret! She was the vice-president of student government at Boston College and seemed to have a million friends on campus. She is the kind of person who can light up a room with her presence and her infectious smile. She could easily have found a solid, well-paying job after college, but instead has chosen to work with Jesuit Volunteers International. She spent some time during spring break and summer vacations while in college working as a volunteer in Central America, and those experiences left her with a desire for further service. Now she is very enthusiastic about this new adventure in her life.

I thought about my phone conversation with Margaret after we finished talking. There is much in our world and in our lives these days that can be disheartening for us. The violence in Iraq and in other parts of the world seems to be unrelenting. In our own country, cases of corrupt practices in government and big business can make us cynical about the “system.” And all of us deal with personal situations in family, friendships and the workplace that can cause us real discouragement. In the midst of such negativity, it is people like Margaret who give us hope. She is willing to offer a substantial portion of her young life, willing to give of her talents and energy, willing to risk life in a country where the government has not always been stable, in order to accompany the poor in the name of Christ. Margaret is a sign of hope for me, as she is for many other people.

I share that story with you because I think that Advent is, above all, the season of the year that speaks to us about the virtue of hope in our lives. During these weeks before Christmas, you and I are invited to think about the way in which the essential virtue of hope is present, or maybe not so present, in our lives. I believe that we are also called during this season to become signs of hope for others.

Our Scripture readings for this Sunday show us the way in which the future can shape our present. In all three readings there is a kind of forward look that has a powerful impact upon the present. The prophet Jeremiah is speaking in the early 6th century, BC at a time when it is becoming clear that Judah will suffer a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Babylonians. During this terrible moment in the history of God’s people, Jeremiah proclaims a promise. He envisions a leader who will do what is right, who will be just and will provide sound leadership for God’s people. He boldly articulates the hope that God will provide such a leader for a people in dire need.

Saint Paul speaks to Christians of the first century about the promise of Jesus’ return in glory. He prays that their hope in the coming of the Lord will strengthen their hearts and inspire them to live their Christian life with authenticity in the here and now.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks in rather strange-sounding languages about the end of time and the coming of the Son of Man. He speaks a word of hope to those who place their faith in him. He promises them that on that great day they will stand up straight and raise their heads, for their Redeemer will be near at hand. In the meantime, they should be vigilant, preparing themselves for this day by living a life of Christian virtue. All three Scripture readings, speak to us about the hope that Christ gives us and about what that hope should mean to us for the way we live here and now.

The Christian virtue of hope is different from optimism. Optimism usually refers to a positive outlook on life based on favorable signs. The outlook is good. And optimism often refers to what we believe we can accomplish or bring about through our own efforts. Christian hope is something much deeper and more substantial than that. Saint Thomas Aquinas, the great 13th century theologian, once spoke of hope in a very simple way. He said that hope means “clinging to God as the source of absolute goodness.” The virtue of hope enables us to face the reality of our lives. It allows us to address even the difficult and disheartening aspects of life – the conflicts in our families, the reality of illness, the pain of loss. But hope moves us to face those realities while clinging to God -- holding on to the hand of God -- who is the source of absolute goodness.

The virtue of hope is for those times that don’t look very hopeful. It means an abiding in God as the One who knows all about us, who is closer to us than we are to ourselves. This is the God who walks with us through whatever difficulties we have to face. This is the God who is sheer goodness and whose goodness will have the final word in our lives. It is this virtue of hope – clinging to God as the source of absolute goodness – that enables us to keep going in the present.

During the weeks before the celebration of Christmas, it would be good if we asked the Lord to renew the gift of hope in our lives. Let us ask Christ to help us cling more closely to him as the source of absolute goodness. I believe that Advent is also a season in which we need to ask ourselves whether we are signs of hope to others. Through what we say and do, by the way we relate to others, do we offer hope to those who may be discouraged, disillusioned or just overburdened by life? Do we make the effort to encourage others during their difficult times? When people talk to me on the phone, as I spoke with Margaret this week, do they come away from that conversation with a little more hope? Do I, even in the ordinary interactions of life, reflect a ray of the absolute goodness that God is?

As we pray together at the Eucharist this weekend, we make memory of the Lord Jesus who came to us once as a child and who will come again in glory. He is the Redeemer who was sent by the Father because of God’s pure goodness. As we receive Christ in the Eucharist, may we cling to him each day and become a more luminous sign of hope to the world.

***

During the season of Advent, I will be offering a suggestion for prayer during the week. I recommend that you set aside 20-30 minutes to reflect on one of the Advent Scripture readings for the week and to allow it to lead you into prayer.

During the coming week, I suggest that you read Isaiah, chapter 11, verses 1-10. It is the first reading for Tuesday of the First Week of Advent.  This is Isaiah’s panoramic vision of the time of messianic rule, when justice and peace will reign in God’s good creation. Creatures that are “natural enemies” will exist peacefully, side by side, in a spirit of reconciliation. This prophecy of Isaiah has inspired many artists in their portrayals of “The Peaceable Kingdom.” As you pray with this passage, reflect on the relationships in your own life that need the reconciling grace of God. Ask for that grace from God. Spend some time in prayer for someone who has offended you or someone with whom you find it difficult to get along. Ask God to give that person the grace he or she needs today.

Robin Ryan, CP