Power of Hope

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

As we near the end of the liturgical year, the scripture readings focus on the end of times, especially on how the resurrection of Jesus is the linchpin of Christian faith, the source of our hope and the cause of our joy. As is reflected in today’s first reading (2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-4), faith and hope in the resurrection can strengthen believers against all manner of evil. Because of their faith and hope that they would live again after death, the martyred brothers and their mother were able to endure the tortures forced on them by a cruel and tyrannical king. Most of us will probably not be subjected to torture; nevertheless, it will be our faith and hope in the risen Jesus that will see us through whatever struggles may be ours to endure.

Faith and hope were the factors that enabled the Thessalonians to continue to live the Gospel that Paul had preached among them. In today’s second reading (2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5), the great apostle reminds his readers through the centuries that God is faithful. Human beings may falter in faith or even succumb to doubt and speculation (as did Sadducees, who are featured in today’s Gospel - Luke 20:27-38), but God never fails.

Confident in God’s fidelity and promise of life after death, believers are able to view life, death and all the events in between from a perspective of hope. This perspective does not immunize the believer from sorrow or suffering; rather it enables the hopeful to accept their present reality while focussing on future joys and eternal fulfillment. Testifying to the power of hope, Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Victor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning, NY 1959) argued that the loss of hope can have a deadly effect on human being. As a result of experiences in a Nazi Concentration Camp, Frankl contended that when a person no longer hopes, he no longer possesses a motive for living. With no future to look toward, he curls up in a corner and dies.

As believers, this quality of hope is afforded to each of us by virtue of Jesus’ resurrection. This hope empowers us to endure a seemingly hopeless situation and look to a better tomorrow. It helps us to suffer the loss of another through death, disease or divorce and survive to love again or bear with loneliness, sorrow and pain without losing heart. In short, it helps us find reasons for rejoicing and the courage to continue living, loving, and serving and giving until our complete sharing in Jesus’ resurrection becomes a reality.