Hope in God

 

   “There is only one failure and that is to fail to hope in God.”  (Frances Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, “The Road of Hope: A Gospel from Prison”) 

   I think of despair as a failure to serve the Lord.  When I hope in Him there is nothing that can overcome me.  Satan may tempt, but he has no hold over those who hope in God.

   If we are to have peace and hope we must put everything into perspective.  Yes, the world seems terrible, it has been so before. Evil seems to be everywhere, but there has always been evil in the world.  When we focus on the evil despair comes easily.  But the evil of this world is not what makes us who we are; God and hope in Him does.

   This coming Sunday Catholics will gather at parishes across the United States.  They will come together to pray the Rosary for our nation, putting their hope in God, trusting in His will. You won’t see this on the news; there will be no reporters talking about what a good thing it is for people to pray.  Like most other religious events it will be ignored by the mainstream.  But this is how we hope in God.  We refuse to give up; we refuse to despair.  In God there is hope, peace and joy.

   My hope does not lie in society; it is not placed in the things of this world.  My hope is in God, the hope of salvation and eternal life in His presence.  When this life is over I will hope no more for my hope will become reality. 

It’s easy to despair.

The world is full of sin and evil.

In You is the hope of eternal joy and happiness.

Increase my hope in You. 

Amen