“Hope” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“Hope” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

Plaque with Saints Peter and John Healing the Lame Man
(Italy, 16th cent.), Walters Art Museum,
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

And a man crippled from birth was carried and placed at the gate of the temple called "the Beautiful Gate" every day to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. But Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us." He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, "I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk." Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong. He leaped up, stood, and walked around, and went into the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God. (Acts 3: 2-8)

James Tissot, The Pilgrims of Emmaus on the Road,
(c. 1886-1894), Brooklyn Museum,
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 

“Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his Body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see." (Luke 24:22-24)

Piety

And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

Study

Hope. Life is generally miserable without it. I doubt the disabled man in the first reading had much hope. Luke says he’d spent his entire life unable to get around. Maybe his parents had placed him out on the street as a child, asking him to beg in order to supplement the family income. Otherwise, he might have been a drain on their likely already meager resources. Now, as an adult, he has friends who carry him every single day to this gate at the Temple, where he begs for alms from those going in. Each morning, he gets up expecting nothing but the same old routine. He just wants to get through the day and earn enough to sustain himself until the next day. Peter and John are about to enter the temple, and this lame beggar runs through his spiel. The two apostles look at him and see a man who’s settling for second best, who has no hope for anything better than this to ever be his lot. It’s not much to look forward to. They don’t give him money, though. Instead, in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, they give him what he never dared hope for – the ability to walk. In a split second, he gets a whole new life. He can walk. His chains have been broken. He dances for joy, praising the Lord.

In the Gospel reading, Cleopas and another disciple are trudging home to Emmaus on Easter. To be sure, their Master’s tomb lay empty, but Jesus himself was nowhere to be seen. None of what they expected has taken place, so they throw their hope out the window. The whole discipleship thing has turned out to be a bust in their estimation. They are going home, tails between their legs. A stranger joining them on the journey asks them why they are so down. They tell him, and Jesus interprets the Scriptures to them. It’s evening as they approach Emmaus, so they ask this fellow traveler to stop in the village and eat with them. It is during the breaking of the bread that they realize this is no stranger; this is their beloved Jesus. He is alive!

Without hope, all of life has a Holy Saturday feel of emptiness to it. There’s not much incentive to get up in the morning. What do we have to look forward to?

With hope, we face life with the same energy that enabled those disciples in the Gospel reading, after walking all day, to run all the way back to Jerusalem to share their good news – Jesus is risen!

Action

It’s not hard to find things to feel downcast about. Just pick up a newspaper or turn on the news. From right in our own families to places on the other side of the globe, there are plenty of things going on that could wreck our day and cause us to be discouraged.

So how do we hold on to hope in the midst of chaos and negativity?

One way is to follow Mary’s example. She held things in her heart, remembering them and pondering them. Yes, she had more than her share of sorrows and heartaches. No mother wants to see her child pursued by people seeking to kill him. No mom should ever have to witness anything like the brutal death her son endured. But Mary can go on, with hope, because she has a heart full of memories of the graces bestowed on her by God.

Take some time this week to reflect on the pivotal moments or relationships in your life where you have experienced God’s grace. It will probably take more than just a few minutes to list them all. These are the things to keep in our hearts and reflect on. These are the things that anchor us even in times of trouble. These are our sources for hope because there is every reason to believe that God, who has already shown us so much love and grace, will never change and will continue to bless us in the ways that matter most.