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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Wait in Joyful Hope

I hope that this post will be one many have been waiting for, though perhaps unknownst to them, and that it will bring much joy to the heart... the kind of joy that comes with the peace of Christ, the peace only God can give.

This is what the Christian life is about everyone. It is truly that simple. Of course, the words of Christ echo in our minds, "Be perfect, as my heavenly Father is perfect," and we wonder at him. How could that be possible? How could we even hope to be perfect, we who are so far from God? Then we hear proclaimed over and over, "love one another as I have loved you" and "love your neighbor as yourself" and "the greatest of these is love"... again, this is a theological virtue that comes with grace. How can we be expected to live like this all the time?

But perhaps we can draw from Blessed Mother Teresa here, for she understood how basic this call to holiness was, how truly simple Jesus' message to the human race was. We cannot be gods, nor can we reach the perfection of our Father in heaven... but we can learn from his Son the ways of holiness, by walking the same path he walked, with the same heart he held, one of perfect abandonment, holy trust, full peace at his Father's will. Jesus waited. He did not know his hour, the time or even the way in which he would bring about the Father's will. He waited for it to be revealed to him in the span of time which he lived on earth. Of course, being God himself he could know everything, for he was before all time and space existed, and he will be after all is gone. He is the Alpha and Omega. Yet, he chose, in love, to take humanity upon himself, and in this form of a slave he surrendered himself to a childlike faith in his Father, so that though he could never be separated from him, being the Second Person of the Trinity, he also chose not await revelation of things to his mind according to the Father's will.

Mother Teresa said, "Be humble and you will never be disturbed. It is very difficult in practice because we all want to see the result of our work. Leave it to Jesus." This translates into every area of life - we must expect that even in our journey to holiness, on our walk to the Father, we will be asked to lay down our control, to set aside our plans and our dreams and the ways we think that life should go. We will be asked to get in a boat and see where it lands, and to endure the storms that come up, and to rejoice when the weather is beautiful. We are asked to trust beyond just our family's health or our daily safety. We are asked to trust beyond the things we cannot control anyway. It is more than that. It is meant to be more than that. It must be more than that. We need to trust will ALL the things we can control. Our jobs, our co-workers, our friends, our families, our homes, our cars, our toothbrushes, our sandals, our pillows, our cats or dogs, our coffee...everything. This is how we learn to live as Christ exemplifies, in the same childlike trust and patience.

Moreover, this waiting on the Lord, this trusting and obedience, is hand and hand with two virtues - hope and joy. We wait upon the promises of the Lord, because "he is faithful even when we are unfaithful," and "hope does not disappoint," and "his word does not return void but accomplishes the task for which it was sent." His promises do not let go of us, and his promise is for truth, for love, for life. His promise is for fulfillment in joy, for a return to our home and our Father who loves us. His love bought us at the price of his Son, his Son's love purchased us at the price of his own flesh, his own life. His promise cannot be denied. So our hope is firm, and should grow more firm with every passing moment. As we live, we learn more and more of his goodness, his mercy, his grace working in our lives. This should be testament enough for us to never lose our hope! And this hope, this glorious gift of God, must inspire in us a true joy. Even in the darkest nights and longest struggles, and in the most lonely and forsaken times, joy should be the waves we ride upon because his promise is alive in us, it is Christ the Lord.

Consider Our Lady, Mary most holy, as a young woman who receives a great message of salvation. It is a message of hope, and a promise. Yet, so often we typify her as anxious or nervous, or at least a little fearful, for she could be stoned to death in Jewish law for becoming pregnant illegitimately. Yet, when she is kneeling in her room, surrounded by the glory of the Lord, hearing the sweetness of the angel's words, I do not think there could be any room for fear or doubt. Before that love, all fear is driven out, and all lies of the devil are disspelled. I believe that Mary's fiat was given as one wholly aware of herself, wholly possessing her heart, mind and soul, and yearning to give them to one who was revealing all the love in the world to her! Her Creator was coming to her as a lover, yearning to draw her near to his heart, nearer than she already was, and in response she yearned to give over her obedience, her life, in joy! In joy because what could she fear? What could anyone do to her when God the Father loved her so? What could this life bring that would be too bitter to taste, or too great a climb for her to endure? We know that her life faced perhaps the most bitter climb of all, to be the Mother of the Savior who would lay down his life for all men, and yet she still loved, and still waited, and still trusted, because her hope was God himself, and his promise cannot be broken, and in this her heart and soul found the joy to conquer all the evil of sin.

So my challenge to myself and all Christians is to pray for this grace. We need to seek the grace to practice this kind of faith, one that is hopeful at all times, and through this hope, joyful at each moment.

I know all too well that I fail at this daily. But if I could learn more of the silence, the internal meditation that leads to the awareness of the Lord's love alive and dwelling in me, the Holy Spirit made known in my heart... surely I would find the joy and hope I need in any situation? I believe it to be true, and the truth will set us free. So until that day when we are reunited with our Father, let us wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  


And for fun meditation, a few Scripture passages on "hope" from the RSV:
Matthew 12:21 "and in his name will the Gentiles hope."
Acts 2:26 "therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will dwell in hope."
Acts 17:27 "that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us."
Romans 4:18 "In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, 'So shall your descendants be.'"
Romans 5:4-5 "and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us."
Romans 8:24-25 "For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."
Romans 12:12 "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." 
Romans 15:2-3 "'in him shall the Gentiles hope.' May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
Hebrews 3:6 "but Christ was faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope."
 Hebrews 7:19 "(for the law made nothing perfect); on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God."
Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful;"
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
1 Peter 3:15 "but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence;"
1 John 3:3 "And every one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."

2 comments:

The Good Tale said...

It is written: A woman shall compass a man and create a new thing in the earth (Jer 31:22), the man is Satan(Isa 14:16), the new thing revealed is turning the hearts of the fathers to the children. Satan has deceived the whole world (Rev 12:7), until the heel of time(Gen 3:15).Check out the bruising of Satan at http://thegoodtale.blogspot.com Please read all posts to see the whole picture.

Lenore Marie said...

Alissa, thank you. This was exactly what i needed to hear. I constantly I'm trying to delve deeper into the meaning of Christian Hope. Your article/reflection hit the zinger. Al, you've gotta keep writing. You have such a gift for writing...and I'm not just saying that because you're my best friend