[Note to readers: This essay was written many years ago, shortly after my reception into the Catholic church. It remains here as a testimony to my life’s journey, and is not intended to urge anyone to adopt any particular religious worldview. As my thoughts and opinions are constantly evolving and may not be identical with my past or future thoughts, each reader is encouraged to be brave in finding inspiration from all sources in order to find the best paths in his/her life journey.]
On Hope
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. (Romans 5:5)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
It is interesting that many unbelievers refuse to believe in God because He cannot be scientifically proven, while they continue to hope and believe that their lives are going to get better, although this cannot be scientifically proven, either. And yet, human beings need hope—we need it more than weary desert travelers need live-giving water. That is why so many people—motivators, idols and movie stars, New Age speakers and inspirational story tellers—make a good living out of selling this one, unscientifically proven thing: HOPE. Of course, one cannot scientifically prove that one’s life will get better, but one desperately needs to believe it, otherwise life is no longer worth living. The unbeliever hopes simply because the alternative—being hopeless—is no alternative. A hopeless person is a depressed person, and a depressed person no longer has the will to continue living.
Not so with the Christian! Our hope is rooted in the FACT that the Lord has given us much more than what we can ever hope for—His own self, and an inheritance with Him in our Father’s Kingdom[1]. As St. Paul once said: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him[2]. And indeed, He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things[3]?
So then: All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God[4].
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.[5]
In this life, the Deceiver will often persuade us to think that our hopes are too high, that the desires of our hearts are too unrealistic and that we are too dreamy. He tells us all these lies to prevent us from having a sure and living Hope in Christ and in His Love. Let us not listen to his wiles! If the Lord withholds anything from us for a moment, there is only ever one reason for it: In order to prepare us for more happiness and fruitfulness, both in this world and in the next[6]. For, as our Lord himself said to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His Glory[7]?
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him (Hebrews 5:7-9)
Or, as Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure once wrote in his book Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence (III.5)[8]:
If a rich man has a son in bad health and prescribes a strict diet for him, does the son think he has to eat small amounts of plain or tasteless food because his father cannot afford better? Does he begin to worry about how he will exist in the future? Will other people think that because of his diet he has become poor? Everybody knows how well off his father is and that he shares in his father’s wealth and he will again have what is now forbidden him as soon as his health is restored.
Are we not the children of the God of riches, the co-heirs of Christ? Being so, is there anything we can lack? Let it be said boldly: whoever responds to his divine adoption with the feelings of love and trust that the position of being children of God demands has a right, here and now, to all that God Himself possesses. Everything then is ours. But it is not expedient we should enjoy everything. It is often necessary we should be deprived of many things. Let us be careful not to conclude from the privations imposed on us only as remedies that we may ever be in want of anything that is to our advantage. Let us firmly believe that if anything is necessary or really useful for us, our all-powerful Father will give it to us without fail. To those gathered round to hear Him our Savior said: If you evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father…?
So, then, whenever we feel hopeless in this life, it is not because our hopes are too high, it is precisely because our hopes are not high enough. Can’t we see beyond the passing pleasures and challenges of this life, to that everlasting Kingdom that our Lord has purchased for us with his blood? Do we forget that we, the Church, are both members of his Body and also his beloved Bride? Is there anything that we can feel or go through, that He does not feel all the more?
For if any part of our body is hurting or sick, our mind will be the first to know and feel it, since all pain signals are sent to the brain. How much more with our Lord! He has given us His own Body and Blood, and also His Sacred heart. Whenever there is anything in this world that disheartens us, let us plunge ourselves into his Heart of infinite Love, and realize what He has done and secured for us.
As our Lord so confidently proclaims: Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom[9].
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.[10]
Our hope, then, is a living Hope (1 Pe 1:3), a sure Hope that does not disappoint (Rom 5:5), a steadfast Hope that renews our strength (Is 40:31).
It is a Hope that shall carry us safely to the everlasting Kingdom of our heavenly Father. That is how St. Paul could so confidently affirm:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus.
***
(Maria Thérèse) Audrey YU Jia Hui
Shanghai, PRC, February 2017
[1] Romans 8:16-17; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelations 2:26-28, 3:21, 22:5
[2] 1 Corinthians 2:9
[3] Romans 8:32
[4] 1 Corinthians 3:21-23
[5] Romans 8:16-17
[6] John 15:1-2
[7] Luke 24:26
[8] https://www.olrl.org/snt_docs/trustful/
[9] Luke 12:32
[10] John 15:16-17