Dear Friends,
November in our global north is a time when people enact
rituals of hope. We plant trees, floral and garlic bulbs, oats and wheat. Into
the earth they go, and then we give them no more thought, somehow confident
they will weather the winter and thrive in the spring.
We may not make the connection between November planting and
hope, but it is strongly there. We hope for that which is not in hand but will
surely come. But only in God. Only in God will the fullness come. Hope is not
optimism. It is rooted in God.
Recently, some of our Sisters gathered to talk about hope, to
enlarge and relish its meaning for ourselves and our times. Here are some of
our realizations to pass on to you.
Hope is the confidence that God will see us through to a
fruitful end. The danger is in being more confident about our ability to
see ourselves through, and not acknowledging God’s presence and action in the
moment. As people of hope, we risk hostility and persecution as Jesus risked
crucifixion. We enter into the darkness so as to emerge into the light of the
resurrection.
We do see true hope embedded in human life in our times – the
bright spot at the end of the evening news, the realization that no one really wants
war. How the people of Martha’s Vineyard, exhausted after the tourist season,
rallied to treat with care the immigrants dropped on their island. That was a
mustering of hope. The many justice projects around the country that find
evidence to make right wrongful incarcerations are examples of hope alive among
us. Pope Francis offers his own encouragement: “We must fan the flame of hope
that has been given to us.” And again, “Where God has planted you, hope.”
Yet the word “hope” is not part of our daily language. A
prison chaplain asked a young incarcerated Black man, “What do you hope for in
life?” “No one has ever asked me that before.”
Fear, the opposite of hope, threatens to overcome our land.
The potential loss of democracy, human-made disasters make hope seem absent in
our times. Around us, we find people engaged in “quiet quitting” looking as
though they are engaged, but secretly are simply marking time. Inside, they are
“away.” Pieces of this reality are in your life and mine.
God, in Jeremiah, lifts up any of us who allow ourselves to
be embraced by God. “I know well the plans I have in mind for you, plans for
life and not for evil, to give you a future full of hope.” (Jer.29.11)
We enliven hope when we perform small acts of kindness, when
we look and act like happy people (because, deep down, we are). To paraphrase Paul
saying to Timothy, “Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in
you.” When we listen to the community’s story of coming through difficult times,
we see hope blossom. Hope is never complete except in God.
As earth and sky embrace November, may the God of hope fill
you to overflowing. Now go plant some bulbs or a tree.
~Sister Joan Sobala
