“Blessed are you who believed”
As we come to the close of Advent, we wait in grateful joy for the coming of the Lord. With Mary, we are united by a great hope for our salvation through her Son. “From the stable at Bethlehem to the moment of his ascension into Heaven, Jesus Christ proclaims a message of hope. Jesus himself is our only hope. He is the firm pledge that we will attain to the marvelous future we have been promised. We look towards the cave at Bethlehem in watchful hope, understanding that it is only in his company that we can boldly approach God the Father.”[i]
What is hope? “The theological virtue by which we desire and expect from God both eternal life and the grace we need to attain it.”[ii] Hope also, “responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.”[iii]
Who do we put our hope in? We are to put our hope in Jesus Christ. “Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus’ preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the ‘hope that does not disappoint.’ Hope is the ‘sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…that enters…where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.’”[iv]
Like the dry ground that awaits the dew fall, all of humanity awaits Jesus, the Eternal Word that descends like the dew fall. This Sunday’s Entrance Antiphon says, “Drop down dew from above, you heaven, and let the clouds rain down the Just One; let the earth be opened and bring forth a Savior.”[v] In the Second Eucharistic Prayer the priest prays makes reference to this scripture, “You are indeed Holy, O Lord, the fount of all holiness. Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.”[vi]
Our hope is in the Lord, who is physically present in the Eucharist. Jesus will be with us in eternal communion with heaven, but until then is temporally with us in the Most Blessed Sacrament. If we do not practice this temporal communion with Jesus, how can we have eternal communion with Him? This is why Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”[vii] Just as mortal sin keeps us from temporal communion in the Eucharist, mortal sin keeps us from eternal communion – Heaven. We must repent and keep our hope in Christ, for “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more.”[viii] God’s grace is stronger than our sins.
Where do we obtain hope? One receives the virtue of hope “… at baptism together with sanctifying grace and having the possession of God as its primary object.”[ix]
How does hope benefit us? “It belongs to the will and makes a person desire eternal life, which is the heavenly vision of God, and gives one the confidence of receiving the grace necessary to reach heaven.”[x] “Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of salvation: ‘Let us…put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.’ It affords us joy even under trial: ‘Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation.’”
Is hope necessary for salvation? Yes. “The virtue of hope is necessary for salvation. Acts of hope are also necessary for salvation and are commanded by God for all who have come to the use of reason.”[xi] It is one of the three theological virtues along with faith and charity, which are all to believe in and to use.
What is the opposite of hope? The opposite of hope is despair, a lack of faith in God. “The ones who become discouraged are not those who undergo difficulties and feel pain. It is those, rather, who do not aspire to sanctity and eternal life, those who despair of ever reaching them…”[xii] Despair is one of the sins against the Holy Spirit.
What are the other sins against the Holy Spirit? Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel, “And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”[xiii] In addition to despair, the sins against the Holy Spirit include Presumption upon God’s mercy –– Impugning known truth – Envy of another’s spiritual good – Obstinacy in sin – Final impenitence.[xiv] Most of these sins are permanent by nature. For example, obstinacy in sin and final impenitence is a firm decision to not choose God. Presumption upon God’s mercy and despair is a declaration that either we are or are not saved. We are either presuming that we are saved or in despair and believe that God’s mercy is not enough for us. When we despair, we are looking at the Cross and saying to Jesus, “Your Grace is not greater than my sin!” To impugn or cause doubt is a direct offense against Jesus Christ who is Truth. To envy, or be saddened by others goodness or holiness, is a direct offense against God, the source of all Good.
Why do people lose hope and despair? There is no singular answer for this question because there are many reasons a person may fall into the sin of despair. “The attitude of the former is shaped by a lack of faith, by comfort seeking, lukewarmness and an excessive attachment to earthly goods, which they consider to be the only good things worth having.”[xv] One common modern reason for despair is the sin of materialism. R. A. Knox once wrote, “In proportion as the world grows weary of its Christian hope, the alternative is materialism, of a type with which we are already familiar – that and nothing else.”[xvi] “Our Lord himself points out to us that the principal objects of Christian hope are not the good things of this life which moth and rust consume, and which thieves can break in and steal, but the treasures of the incorruptible heritage and, above all, the supreme happiness of the eternal possession of God.”[xvii] We only have to think of all the presents we have received over the years or hope to receive in the future. How many of us still have all the gifts we received from every year we have lived? Almost all have been dismissed. We must remember our hope is never in something man-made or material, but in Jesus Christ alone.
The great paradox of the forth Sunday of Advent is that in the midst of hope for material goods (Christmas presents), which leaves man empty, a lasting happiness, Jesus Christ is offered. Hope is Jesus Christ is real and lasting.
What does hope lead us to? “Hope leads us to abandon ourselves in God and to do all that we can to undertake a deliberate ascetical struggle. This struggle will move us to begin again many times, to be constant in the apostolate and patient in adversity; to have a more supernatural outlook on life...”[xviii]
How do we express hope? Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire.”[xix]
What does Mary teach us about hope? St. Jose Maria Escriva said, “Mary teaches us to hope. ‘All generations will call me blessed’, she proclaimed. Humanly speaking, how could she hope for such a thing? Who was she, in the eyes of her contemporaries? The great heroines of the Old Testament – Judith, Esther, Deborah – won a measure of human renown even here on earth… What a contrast between Our Lady’s hope and our own impatience! We call so often upon God to reward us at once for any little good we may have done. For us, no sooner does the very first difficulty appear than we begin to complain. Often we find ourselves incapable of sustaining our efforts, of keeping our hope alive.”[xx] “The example of Mary teaches us how a simple creature can join in the mystery of Christ and bring Christ into the world through her ‘yes’ – a ‘yes’ which is continually repeated in faith and lived in loving obedience to God’s will.”[xxi]
How does Mary show perfect hope? Mary shows us perfect hope through her complete faith in God. “While every word of Elizabeth’s greeting is filled with meaning, her final words would seem to have fundamental importance: ‘And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord’ (Lk. 1:45). These words can be linked with the title ‘full of grace’ of the angel’s greeting. Both of these texts reveal an essential Mariological content, namely the truth about Mary, who has become really present in the mystery of Christ precisely because she ‘has believed.’ The fullness of grace announced by the angel means the gift of God himself. Mary’s faith, proclaimed by Elizabeth at the Visitation, indicates how the Virgin of Nazareth responded to this gift.”[xxii]
What example does Mary leave for all Christians who have hope? “At the same time she is a model for every Christian who, once he has received Christ, must give him to his brothers. Likewise the life of a Christian ought to be so pure, so bright, and genuine that it reveals the Lord in every action. Christ, ‘splendor of eternal light and sun of justice’ should shine out in our conduct as Christians, and by this dispel the darkness, doubts, errors, prejudices and uncertainties on the part of so many who perhaps do not believe because they have not met any one who knew how to give an effective witness to the gospel. The Christian prayers for himself and for all his brothers by trusting all to Mary’s powerful intercession: ‘O radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice, come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death’.”[xxiii] “The Christian knows that he has to live this advent beside Our Lady every day of his life if he wants to be certain of attaining the only thing in the whole of his existence that is really important – finding Christ in this life, and afterwards being with him in eternity.”[xxiv]
[i] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 1 21.2
[ii] Catechism of the Catholic Church Glossary, 882
[iii] CCC 1818
[iv] CCC 1820
[v] Isaiah 45:8
[vi] The Order of the Mass
[vii] John 6:54
[viii] Romans 5:20
[ix] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 257
[x] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 257
[xi] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 257
[xii] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 1 21.1
[xiii] Matthew 12:32
[xiv] Roman Catholic Daily Missal; 1962; The Most Necessary Prayers
[xv] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 1 21.1
[xvi] R. A. Knox, Sermon on Christmas
[xvii] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 1 21.2
[xviii] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 1 21.2
[xix] CCC 1820
[xx] J. Escriva, Friends of God, 286
[xxi] Divine Intimacy pg. 78
[xxii] John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater 12.1
[xxiii] Divine Intimacy pgs. 84
[xxiv] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 1 21.1