Rev. Dr. Augustine Vallooran, VC
The The sunset is beautiful, but the value of its beauty is that it contains the hope that the sun will rise the next day. A seed is a wonder precisely because it will bloom one day. The labour pain of a woman becomes meaningful because it signals new life, a child is being born. All that is beautiful carries hope.
As disciples of Jesus, and as children of God, we are assured that “Hope does not disappoint” (Rm 5:5). This is the theme put forward by Pope Francis when he announced this Jubilee Year of Hope.
One could wonder how real can this promise be, when apparently so much is going wrong in the world, and even in the premise of our own lives. We are able to trace a recurrent pattern of failures, frustrations, hardships, betrayals, and so on. Every such experience distances us from hope. For this reason St. Paul directs us to look to Jesus Christ for that undefeatable hope. “Christ in you, is the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).
“What eye has not seen… God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9)
Years ago, a young man came to me, totally shattered. I could read sorrow in his eyes. He said for years he dreamt of becoming a doctor. That was the best life he could
imagine, where he would be respected in society, and do good to all around him. He worked hard. He did very well in his school. Everyone pinned their hopes on him. However, in the entrance exam he failed, not once but twice. “I just don’t understand how I failed. I can’t face anyone. I cannot think of a future. I don’t see a reason to live.” I prayed for him, and I gave him the message that was clear, “What is happening to you is according to the plan of God. This plan is for you to share the glory of God, and experience heavenly joy on this earth.” I suggested he take up engineering an option available to him. We prayed together. He promised to consider this and went away.
This year, I met him in the United States when I went there for a retreat. He reminded me of our meeting. He shared how his journey from after the retreat was an experience of grace upon grace. He pursued engineering, came out in flying colors, moved to the US, got a very good placement, got married, had a child. He concluded that this was the best life he could ever have lived. God knew exactly what he was made for, and led him to that. Earlier he had wanted to study medicine because it seemed a profession everyone around him cited as the best. However, it was God alone who knew where he must flourish and how he must be a blessing.
Often we slip into despair because we do not care to find out what God is doing in our hearts. Our answer is in this truth: Christ is in me. This is a mystery. Here is where our joy lies. If Christ is in me, He is working within me, turning everything to my good.
“Lord, we are the clay and you our potter” (Is 64:7)
We often stagnate in partial truths. The result is grief, anger, and helplessness. The whole truth alone is life-giving, and is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. When we are faced with failure, for example, scripture categorically declares, “All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). Those who love God, will experience Christ transforming even the worst failures into stepping stones to success. We must wait upon the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what God sees in our adverse situations.
Every challenge in life should lead me to pray. When I am connected to God, the Holy Spirit will reveal to me that everything happening to me is leading me to partake of God’s greater glory.
Through such a constant turning to God, we will grow rooted in the truth that God speaks, “I know the plans I have for you… plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jer 29:11). Everything happening to us is an unfolding of this supremely good plan of God. It is the Holy Spirit who impresses this truth upon our hearts, leading us to
peace, and to cooperate with God to fulfill the best plan for my life.
God is constantly at work, ensuring all things work for our good. St. Paul explains with a rather beautiful imagery. He writes, “For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them” (Eph 2:10). To understand this we need to consider the potter. He is fully involved in every work of His. With his legs, he keeps the wheel moving. Meanwhile his hands are fashioning the clay. Already in his mind the potter has a design and a purpose for what he is moulding. Accordingly, when the clay rotates on the wheel, his hands will draw the clay outwards and inwards to achieve the design. The clay moves with his hands. If it is a water pot, it needs a large body to hold more water, but a narrow neck for the water to be poured out. So the potter’s hands will draw the clay out at first and then close themselves in for the neck to be narrow. Similarly, everything happening to me is according to the working of God.
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Cor 3:17)
Often we conclude that we are failures when we fail in a project, and our plans don’t succeed. This is a faulty way of thinking. No one who believes in God can be a failure, or can grow frustrated.
A person who has faith in God will not complain about anything, because there is a confidence that God is in the know of everything, and that every detail of one’s life is crafted by God for His perfect plan of love. When we wait upon the God in prayer, the Holy Spirit will reveal the whole truth. We are given a glimpse of the full picture, and we would be in awe of God’s marvelous
wonder working ways. Things may not always turn out the way we desire it to be. Even when we make elaborate plans and work intensely to achieve our goals, the results may be not to our preference. Here we can be so confident that though our plans fail, God will have His way, and that is always the best.
The Blessed Virgin Mary remains as a guiding star to every pilgrim of hope. She took a firm stand in offering her life to God when she responded, “Here I am, your handmaid. Let it happen to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).
At first, she did not understand God’s ways. She was to conceive and bear the Son of God. At this communication from the angel, the Virgin of Nazareth was deeply troubled. The well laid out plans for her future were to be cast aside, to make way for God’s plan. There were many questions how could she bear a child while she was a virgin, and would she not be stoned to death in that time and culture, a woman betrothed to a man and found pregnant would be stoned to death, as a preposterous act of adultery.
She could not find light. She was deeply troubled. As she remained in prayer, the angel explained that the Holy Spirit will accomplish the impossible. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Lk 1:35).
This revelation was sufficient for the Virgin Mary. She entrusted her life into the hands of God for the Holy Spirit to take charge of its course. As she made a total surrender, she was filled with joy. She would sing, “My soul magnifies the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour” (Lk 1:46,47). Joy can only be taken hold of by those who surrender their life to God. Joy follows those anointed with the Holy Spirit.
We have been summoned to be men and women of hope, in fact pilgrims of hope in a hopeless world. All around us are men and women who are so desperate, angry, violent, and bitter. They are unable to understand human limitedness, and failures overwhelm them. They haven’t seen the basis of sure hope. The basis of hope is a person our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we come to experience Jesus Christ in us, our faith enables us to see the Lord moving, moulding, and turning everything to our good. Even in the darkest moments we will be led to pray, rejoice, and praise God. We will be praising God all the time. This is the sign of great spiritual depth.
Such holy rejoicing is the way of trusting in God, and of surrendering our lives totally in the hands of God. This is the route for us pilgrims of hope and light in a dark world.
Prayer
Lord God, we thank you for the gracious plan you have in mind for us. Your mighty wonder working hands are upon our lives, turning everything to our good. Even when unexplainable sad events happen in our lives, we can praise you because you know every detail and you have the power to bless us even through these moments. Jesus, let your face shine on us that we may always rejoice in the hope that does not disappoint. Anoint us with your Spirit that we may flood with this world with the light of the hope we have in you. Amen.