Today, on Holy Saturday, we witness to hope. Yesterday, on Good Friday, we memorialized in a special way the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today we especially remember His body in the tomb.
Today we have the advantage of knowing that Jesus rose from the dead. However, on the day in history when Jesus had been crucified the previous day, His disciples did not fully understand how He had told them that He was to suffer and die, and after three days rise from the dead.*
In the midst of what seems like it can be nothing but tragedy, we face an immense temptation to despair. It is at such overwhelmingly challenging moments that God calls us to hope.
Recently I heard Cardinal Schonborn relate how our Blessed Mother Mary remained in her faith even on that first Holy Saturday. The day after Jesus died, even then she had hope. The Cardinal noted that tradition tells us that only our Blessed Mother kept the faith during that dark hour. In the midst of what seemed like total defeat, she refused to give up hope.
Our Blessed Mother Mary was hoping despite the evidence. She hoped although what she saw was to the contrary. We hope for what we do not see, and we look forward to it with persevering confidence.** We look not to what is seen, but to what is unseen.***
I hope for what I do not see with the eyes of this physical body. And yet I can tell you that I hope for what I can see. I can see my hope with my spiritual eyes. I am being reassured of my goal, where I am striving to reach. I cannot explain to you how I am being encouraged by those I cannot see, but I assure you, I am being drawn forward. Although here is evidence which would never be admissible in any court of law, still I am presented with evidence. On the basis of this evidence, I move forward in faith. Thus emboldened by those who I somehow hear, and somehow I am inexplicably strengthened as I strive on toward the goal, as Saint Paul wrote, and in so writing, he implicitly incites us to do the same.****
We proceed onward boldly in faith, hope and love, for we are empowered to do so by those who have gone before us. Yet we also choose to define ourselves right now when we aim to think, pray, speak and act out of faith, hope and love. We shape our own world right now, in the present, in this very instant, by our own individual choices.
I have shared with you how Saint John of the Cross advised us, that where you do not see love, there put love, and there you will find love. Now I say to you, where you do not see hope, there put hope, and there you will see hope.
Similarly, I have repeated how Gandhi told us that you must be the change you wish to see in the world. Now I say to you, you must be the hope you wish to see in the world.
It has always been this way. Two thousand years ago, when Jesus was crucified and was buried, His mother was faced with this choice, between despair and hope. She chose hope. Soon, and very soon, she was richly rewarded. The Son she mourned rose from the dead, having been glorified by His Heavenly Father.
In time she was abundantly rewarded in Heaven. She was crowned in the midst of the glory of God, to the praise, honor and glory of God. Our Blessed Mother Mary provides us with a model of faith, hope and love; through her example, she also consented to allow others to be illumined through the light shining through her. She showed how hope is rewarded, through how she was crowned. Upon this crowning Christians meditate while praying the rosary. In so pondering and keeping these things in our hearts,***** we welcome the Holy Spirit to help us choose hope rather than despair.
Each and every human being is presented with this choice, between despair and hope. In how we respond, we determine how we contribute to shaping our world.
We help the world become a better place through our thoughts, prayers, words and deeds. But now is a dark hour, you say. How can I possibly have hope? In effect, in asking such a question, you ask how you can imitate our Blessed Mother Mary.
Let us look at her life, then. She was a lowly maiden. She accepted her humble station in life. When the angel appeared to her, informing her that she would give birth to Jesus, she obediently gave her assent to the will of God. While she did not understand how she was to come to give birth, and she wondered how it could be so, still she promptly acquiesced to the will of God.****** God calls us too to submit to His will. He has ordained all things for the good of those who love Him.******* Thus we trust in Him who deeply loves us, who is loving us infinitely, and therefore far more than we can understand.
When we realize that God's designs are far beyond our understanding, we are on the road to humility. Once we are humble, we trust in God. Turning over to God all that is occurring, and all that is to happen, we have hope in God, since, knowing that God is love,******** it is clear that we rest secure in the hope of the infinite love who is God. Safe and secure in faith in God, confident in the hope of His promise, we journey surely on The Way home to Him. Regardless of what seems to be occurring all around us, we strive on confidently certain toward the goal of resting forever in Him, in eternal love, in eternal life, now and forevermore. Amen.
* Matthew 20:19; Mark 8:31; Mark 10:34; Luke 18:33
** Romans 8:25
*** 2 Corinthians 4:18
**** Philippians 3:14
***** Luke 2:19
****** Luke 1:26-38
******* Romans 8:28
******** 1 John 4:8, 16
Today we have the advantage of knowing that Jesus rose from the dead. However, on the day in history when Jesus had been crucified the previous day, His disciples did not fully understand how He had told them that He was to suffer and die, and after three days rise from the dead.*
In the midst of what seems like it can be nothing but tragedy, we face an immense temptation to despair. It is at such overwhelmingly challenging moments that God calls us to hope.
Recently I heard Cardinal Schonborn relate how our Blessed Mother Mary remained in her faith even on that first Holy Saturday. The day after Jesus died, even then she had hope. The Cardinal noted that tradition tells us that only our Blessed Mother kept the faith during that dark hour. In the midst of what seemed like total defeat, she refused to give up hope.
Our Blessed Mother Mary was hoping despite the evidence. She hoped although what she saw was to the contrary. We hope for what we do not see, and we look forward to it with persevering confidence.** We look not to what is seen, but to what is unseen.***
I hope for what I do not see with the eyes of this physical body. And yet I can tell you that I hope for what I can see. I can see my hope with my spiritual eyes. I am being reassured of my goal, where I am striving to reach. I cannot explain to you how I am being encouraged by those I cannot see, but I assure you, I am being drawn forward. Although here is evidence which would never be admissible in any court of law, still I am presented with evidence. On the basis of this evidence, I move forward in faith. Thus emboldened by those who I somehow hear, and somehow I am inexplicably strengthened as I strive on toward the goal, as Saint Paul wrote, and in so writing, he implicitly incites us to do the same.****
We proceed onward boldly in faith, hope and love, for we are empowered to do so by those who have gone before us. Yet we also choose to define ourselves right now when we aim to think, pray, speak and act out of faith, hope and love. We shape our own world right now, in the present, in this very instant, by our own individual choices.
I have shared with you how Saint John of the Cross advised us, that where you do not see love, there put love, and there you will find love. Now I say to you, where you do not see hope, there put hope, and there you will see hope.
Similarly, I have repeated how Gandhi told us that you must be the change you wish to see in the world. Now I say to you, you must be the hope you wish to see in the world.
It has always been this way. Two thousand years ago, when Jesus was crucified and was buried, His mother was faced with this choice, between despair and hope. She chose hope. Soon, and very soon, she was richly rewarded. The Son she mourned rose from the dead, having been glorified by His Heavenly Father.
In time she was abundantly rewarded in Heaven. She was crowned in the midst of the glory of God, to the praise, honor and glory of God. Our Blessed Mother Mary provides us with a model of faith, hope and love; through her example, she also consented to allow others to be illumined through the light shining through her. She showed how hope is rewarded, through how she was crowned. Upon this crowning Christians meditate while praying the rosary. In so pondering and keeping these things in our hearts,***** we welcome the Holy Spirit to help us choose hope rather than despair.
Each and every human being is presented with this choice, between despair and hope. In how we respond, we determine how we contribute to shaping our world.
We help the world become a better place through our thoughts, prayers, words and deeds. But now is a dark hour, you say. How can I possibly have hope? In effect, in asking such a question, you ask how you can imitate our Blessed Mother Mary.
Let us look at her life, then. She was a lowly maiden. She accepted her humble station in life. When the angel appeared to her, informing her that she would give birth to Jesus, she obediently gave her assent to the will of God. While she did not understand how she was to come to give birth, and she wondered how it could be so, still she promptly acquiesced to the will of God.****** God calls us too to submit to His will. He has ordained all things for the good of those who love Him.******* Thus we trust in Him who deeply loves us, who is loving us infinitely, and therefore far more than we can understand.
When we realize that God's designs are far beyond our understanding, we are on the road to humility. Once we are humble, we trust in God. Turning over to God all that is occurring, and all that is to happen, we have hope in God, since, knowing that God is love,******** it is clear that we rest secure in the hope of the infinite love who is God. Safe and secure in faith in God, confident in the hope of His promise, we journey surely on The Way home to Him. Regardless of what seems to be occurring all around us, we strive on confidently certain toward the goal of resting forever in Him, in eternal love, in eternal life, now and forevermore. Amen.
* Matthew 20:19; Mark 8:31; Mark 10:34; Luke 18:33
** Romans 8:25
*** 2 Corinthians 4:18
**** Philippians 3:14
***** Luke 2:19
****** Luke 1:26-38
******* Romans 8:28
******** 1 John 4:8, 16
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