A Daily Dose of God

 

 

Reflection – OLPH Music Ministry 12/23/2020, Advent: A Time to Hope with the Prophet Jeremiah and St. Luke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Hope is based on our Faith and our Love for Jesus Christ.  Jeremiah told us the Lord said, “… I know the plans I have for you … You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  Our soul, our being needs an anchor and that anchor is Hope!  When our soul is an anchored to Jesus, we are never alone and never without Hope.  “Human beings cannot live without hope.”  [The Spirit of Advent, Mark Searle - found in the Ordo]

 

Viktor Frankl wrote, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”  [Man’s Search for Meaning]

 

As you know Hope is a theological virtue (along with faith and love) in Christian tradition.  Hope combines the desire for something with the expectation of receiving it.  Hope is longing for Divine Union, eternal happiness.  It is an act of the will, and is essential, because it enables us to believe, to have faith and to love.  Msgr. Morrison in his insert on Hope wrote, “We possess this spiritual … virtue of hope because God is faithful ….  Because we have faith, we can have hope.”  [Living the Spirit with Advent Joy – Hope]

 

In today’s Gospel St. Luke recounted Jesus’ parable about the widow and He told His disciples [and us] “… we should always pray and not give up.”  The widow prayed and never gave up, she prayed against all odds in her pursuit of justice.

The word “widow” in Hebrew means silent one or unable to speak, Jesus wants us to know, He is with us in our speaking and in our silence.

 

During this COVID Pandemic in a world lost in sin and darkness we should pray always and Hope always in the Lord, who answers our pleas, our petitions, and our prayers.  Maybe this story can help us remember to Hope and to Love and then do what the Holy Spirit urges us to do.

 

“Lullaby and good night . . .”

 

Every evening she could hear the newborn in the apartment next door cry and cry.  The parents put the child to sleep alone in the dark, when they do the baby cries for a long time; the exhausted parents clearly are oblivious to their child’s anguish or are at a loss as to what to do.

 

It seems HOPELESS!  What can and should she do?  She’s not sure.  Speaking to the parents might make what is just an annoying situation into something much worse.  So, she decides to sing.

 

SINGING INEVITABLY BRINGS HOPE, think of the times when you are singing and the Holy Spirit fills you, and often fills you with Hope.

 

Just as she can hear the baby, the baby can hear her.  So, every evening when mom and dad put the child to sleep, she sings lullabies and cradlesongs, talks softly and reassuringly to the baby through the walls, consoles and comforts the child.  The baby hears her invisible friendly voice and falls asleep peacefully, without a tear or whimper. [Connections, From The Power of Kindness by Piero Ferrucci.] 

 

The baby experiences Hope without knowing it and the lady experiences Hope knowingly.  As we continue to deal with the COVID Pandemic and the plethora of other problems we face - our Hope lies in Jesus Christ.  Remember what Jesus told Thomas the Apostle, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Light.”

 

And St. Paul reminds us “… eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  [1 Cor. 2:9]

There is an old Hassidic story, I want to share with you.  “In the beginning there was only Holy Darkness, the source of life.  The world and everything in it came from the heart of this Holy Darkness as a great ray of light.

 

And then there was an accident.  And the vessel containing the light of the world was broke.  And fragments of that light fell into all events and all things and all people, where they remain deeply hidden until this very day.  We are all born with the capacity to find the hidden light in everything.  It is our task to lift it up and make it visible once again.”  [Hineni, In Imitation of Abraham, pp. xx & xxi, Alisa Kasmir]

 

Pope Francis said, “Hope opens new horizons, making us capable of dreaming what is not even imaginable.”  Christ is the Light of the world.  Christ is the Hope of the world.  We are called to follow in His Way, His Truth and His Light.  Christ’s Light shines through our lives, and our loving actions make His Light visible again.  Jesus is our Light and our Hope.

 

Tonight, join me in ending my reflection by praying a short Litany of Hope.

Christ Jesus, Son of the living God - Grant us Hope.

 

Christ Jesus, Son of the living God fill us - Grant us Hope.

 

Christ Jesus, Son of God Who came, Who is here & Who will come again –

Grant us Hope.

 

Christ Jesus, You know our Pandemic problem – Grant us Hope.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

N.B. Photo from Elizabeth Ann Koch, thank you Lizzie and love,

Dad