A Sunday of Hope!

3^rd Sunday of Advent year B 2017:

Rejoice, let’s say it again, rejoice.  This is Gaudete Sunday, which is why we wear the rose colored vestments and we say rejoice. 

This past Wednesday the priests of the diocese gathered in Warsaw for a day of recollection.  Professor Bill Mattison gave the talks, he teaches theology at Notre Dame.  He gave some really great talks on the virtue of hope, which I want to focus on today.  What is hope?  Most people refer to hope as the desire for a certain outcome.  I really hope I get that great job.  I hope my kids turn out happy and successful.  I hope I get into that great school.  I hope the Colts learn how to win someday.  We might even make it spiritual: I hope I go to heaven, I hope I become holy, I hope I can overcome my sins. 

But, if you notice, most of these proclamations of hope are forward looking.  They dwell with the future.  While there may be something forward looking about hope and our lives, hope is a virtue for the present.  It is the virtue for us right here and right now.  Hope is a theological virtue.  This means that it comes from God as a gift.  It is not simply a wish about the future.  Rather, hope is the power necessary for living lives in the present tense.

What do I mean?  It’s not so easy to live in the present tense.    For good or ill, so many of us like to live in the past or the future.  We might dwell on past hurts or sins, and that is negative.  But, we might also dwell on past accomplishments, which seems positive, but then we are no longer living here and now, no longer making new accomplishments.  The future is even worse.  How many of us are filled with worry and anxiety when we think about the future?  Even if we dream of amazing positive things, we never get there if we are trying to live tomorrow.  No, only right now exists.  We only have the present moment.  The past is gone and the future will never arrive.  All we have is now.

And what is exciting about that, is that now is precisely where God lives.  Prof. Mattison was saying that for many people the concept of eternal life is either seen as being like an accomplishment that happens at the end of our lives.  Or it might even seem scary, or dull.  For these people, eternal life is just an endless succession of days that will take place when we die.  But, the Christian message is that eternal life is living in radical communion with God.  Now God is eternal and outside of time.  God experiences all moments simultaneous as an energetic and amazing present moment.  This is why we need hope.  Hope allows us to experience God here and now.  Hope allows us to live in the present moment, excited and engaged with the living God. 

The beauty of the present moment is that we are never done.  Think about this for a second.  It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday.  Today is a new day.  Hope is all about living in the present.  Do you feel guilty or ashamed about the past?  Hope says today is a new day.  God says you aren’t done.  Turn to him and be saved and set free.  But, on the other hand, if we think: well I’m a pretty good person, I can take it easy.  Hope says: keep going, don’t settle for mediocrity. 

Hope is what makes great saints.  Hope says: even if you are a sinner, you can be set free.  Hope says, even if you are holy, keep going.  Think about Mother Theresa or JP2.  They did amazing things, but they always kept going, kept living the next day.  That is what hope is all about.

St. Paul captures the beautiful tension of hope pretty well in our second reading.  Notice that in the first part of the reading he says: pray without ceasing, give thanks always, etc.  Doesn’t this sound like: keep living today, keep going?  In the second part of the reading he says, may God make you perfectly holy.  But, I’m sure we all recognize that we aren’t there yet.  The great saints did.  This is why they live so energetically in the present moment.  God will make us perfectly holy, but it only happens through the gift of hope which allows us to live in the present moment. 

So my friends, let us rejoice on this Gaudete Sunday.  I, for one, rejoice in the fact that I’m not done.  It’s not over.  Every day is a new day where we get to grow closer to God.  So, if you find yourself weighed down by the past, or anxious about the future, pray to God for the gift of hope, which will allow you to live in this present moment.