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True hope does not lie in knowing the future, but in knowing its Author. I think many people today are scrolling the news, or looking for a certain politician or leader, or turn of events or even prophetic websites like Countdown to the Kingdom that would offer a glimmer of hope to change the course of things. Yes, knowing of a coming Era of Peace or “triumph of the Immaculate Heart”, or knowing that God “wins in the end” as the cliché goes, can be a hopeful message. But it can quickly be drowned out with the next glum headline or personal misfortune and suffering in our own lives. Suddenly, we can find ourselves looking again for another “out,” for another word of consolation, another word of hope…
True Hope
But true hope is far deeper, far more stable, far more lasting. In fact, says St. Paul,
Faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
If one is despairing, if one feels hopeless, it is not because there isn’t hope. It’s because one has lost connection with the Author of hope, who is God.
…the Ephesians, before their encounter with Christ, were without hope because they were “without God in the world”. To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope. We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it, have almost ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, n. 3
Thus it’s not merely a matter of simply knowing that at the end of one’s life there is the possibility of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Yes, what a great hope that is indeed! But let’s be honest, it’s an almost surreal hope; it seems distant if not detached from our every day reality and the dread that incessantly consumes the headlines. Rather, true hope comes from knowing God, from “a real encounter with this God.”
The other day, I sat down to my morning prayer. It was again a choice to seek the Lord instead of my own will, to listen to Him instead of a thousand distractions. As I began to listen to the Word of God that I was reading, it spoke deeply to my heart. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I began to encounter the quiet but nonetheless real presence of the Lord moving in my interior. Suddenly, a new strength welled up within me and the obstacles before me that day seemed to just melt away. I began to experience in a real living way the words of St. Paul:
I can do all things in Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)
That’s hope. This wasn’t Paul giving a motivational speech or self-esteem talk. He was reflecting the reality he knew interiorly through His relationship and constant encounter with Christ through prayer. Hope for him was not in knowing how the future turns out but in the fact that God is present in the midst of both His suffering and joys.
Finding Hope
You may find this reflection odd coming from me, from someone whose writings have dealt to a large degree with the future. And if they have, it’s for the reasons Jesus Himself spoke of future events:
I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. (John 14:29)
Knowing something of the future is not so much a matter of hope but of bolstering your faith, of seeing with your own eyes that God’s Word is true and, therefore, you need only put your trust in Him, especially when these things begin to unfold. But faith in God has to go deeper than mere intellectual assent if it is to generate hope. It has to take me into the heart, into the “interior life” where I encounter the indwelling Trinity. Through a life of prayer, that is, conversation, listening to God’s Word, pouring my heart out before Him and letting Him respond — in other words, genuine friendship — I encounter Him. And in that encounter of truth, mercy, forgiveness, instruction, and especially love, hope is renewed, it grows, its light overcomes the darkness and divine strength flows where there was once weakness. And this hope should ultimately overflow into charity toward those around us.
The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Spe Salvi, n. 2
We listen to prophecy because it is God’s will to speak to us through prophets — this is part of Scripture and Sacred Tradition. And yet, we all share in the prophetic office of Christ. Therefore, these words can also apply to you and me:
God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it… In their “one to one” encounters with God, the prophets draw light and strength for their mission. (CCC, 2115, 2584)
Yes, they draw hope, true hope. So recommit yourself from now on to a time of prayer each day to be alone with God, to encounter Him, and let hope be borne anew.
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