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As I was reflecting on living in the year 2000, the unusual combination of a Jubilee year and the beginning of a millennium, it struck me that this year calls us to be people of hope. Why? Well, the jubilee year, “a year of favor from the Lord”, reminds us of God*s fidelity to us and is a call to conversion of heart. Jubilee asks us to be loving people who grow in freedom, who can forgive and be reconciled, who can rest in the Lord. It asks us to be like God, a lover who can embrace the whole world, can be brother/sister to everyone. What a world that will be! What a call to hope! This millennium year reminds us of the fidelity of God to us. It reminds us of the truth which Scripture teaches us. God is creator of all. We are creatures, God*s works of art, who owe everything to God. Our sole purpose is to “see God more clearly, to love God more dearly, and to follow God more nearly” as the song in Godspell tell us and, indeed, as the Catechism tells us. We are God*s beloved who do not walk alone (Lk 43:1-4) and God has never cut his losses (Lk 15:3-6). God will not force us but will do everything short of that to call us to account (Lk 20:9-16), and emptied himself taking our human nature, the form of a slave, becoming obedient unto death for us (Phil 2:6-11). God wishes to heal, not to condemn (Jn 8:1-11). God is love and calls us friend (Jn 15:9-14). God came as a human that we might have life and have it to the full (Jn10:10) and tells us that the criterion for salvation is love of God expressed through care of our sisters and brothers (Matt 25:11-46). In fact, Scripture reminds us that God is ‘the Faithful and True* (Rev 19:11). What more do we need to be people of hope? I recently came upon a thoughtful description of hope: “Hope is often misunderstood as simply a belief that heaven and God*s rewards will come at the end of life or the end of the world. To unbe1ievers, this kind of hope may look like wishful thinking. But hope is more dynamic and more powerful than quiet assent to the possibility of heaven. Hope infuses present life with joy and opens our hearts to others and our minds to future possibilities. Hope is rooted in faith, but it keeps faith from being fixed in the past. It colors faith with gentleness and patience. Hope reminds us that creation continues, that the full significance of Jesus* life, death, and Resurrection are yet to be realized, and that all of God*s purposes are yet to be known. Hope is the stirring of the Spirit within us, telling us in our present suffering that “.. eye has not seen and ear has not heard...what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). With confidence in God*s life-giving generosity, we live in the knowledge that death has already been swallowed up in victory and that we can always and everywhere lift up our hearts to the God who saves us. from The Meaning of Hope by Diane Culbertson OP So let's live this year to the full knowing that we walk through its gifts and challenges, its Joys and sorrows, facing our human goodness and sinfulness, hand in hand with God who loves us unconditionally and who does not ask us to walk alone. Sr Annette Mattle |
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