Witness to Jesus, 'Hope of the World'

By TODD GRAFF

Today there is a need for people to be witnesses to the mercy and tenderness of God, who spurs the resigned, enlivens the disheartened, ignites the fire of hope. He ignites the fire of hope! We don’t. So many situations require our comforting witness. To be joyful, comforting people…. We are all called to comfort our brothers and sisters, to testify that God alone can eliminate the causes of existential and spiritual tragedies. He can do it! He is powerful!

-Pope Francis, Angelus Address, Dec. 7, 2014

Greetings of Peace in this New Year!

It was the Second Sunday of Advent, and I was preparing to join the procession to receive Communion. We were singing the Communion hymn, “Jesus, Hope of the World,” a hymn our parish was singing throughout the Advent season.

And then, quite unexpectedly, tears began to fill my eyes. I was caught off guard, but I realized that the beautiful words and message of this hymn were resonating within me in a deeply powerful way. We sing in the refrain:

Jesus, hope of the world, Jesus, light in our darkness, here we await, you, O Master Divine.

Here we receive you in bread and in wine: Jesus, hope of the world.

I have been reflecting often, in these days, on the very troubled and painful realities of our world. While I can wake up in my home and enjoy some time for quiet and prayer, and then something to eat and a hot shower, so many in our world must live without the assurance of these things.

Wars rage in Europe and the Middle East, and in other parts of our world, and countless innocent lives have been harmed and lost due to these conflicts. So many parents are mourning the children who have died from the violence affecting their communities and neighborhoods. So many families have had to flee their homes and communities (and even home countries) to seek safety. So many of our sisters and brothers live in paralyzing fear of the next bomb or round of gunshots to come their way.

And, even in our own country, there is a toxic, angry, and divisive spirit to our public life which is reflected in our social media, in our politics, and even in our churches. Many parents among us are also mourning the lives of children injured and lost to gun violence, suicide, sexual abuse, etc. Many demean the very humanity of the immigrants living here and especially on our southern border.

Like many of my fellow citizens, I have been dreading this coming election year with its prospect of fomenting more division, anger, and resentment among us.

I don’t like to write about these things, and I certainly don’t like to feel the anxiety and fear that they breed within me. But, we must try to see things as they are - but, also as they could be.

As people of faith, we must be people of joy and of hope. And that is what brought tears to my eyes at Mass on that Sunday morning. The “hope of the world” is not found in politics or in the media, but in Jesus. He is “the light” even, and especially, in this great darkness of our day. In praying and singing this truth of our faith, I could only begin to weep.

And, as I received Communion, I knew that it was Jesus, our Risen Lord, in His “body, blood, soul, and divinity” that I was receiving. And, it is this Jesus who accompanies and walks with me, and with us, through all of the painful and difficult moments of life.

As Pope Francis relates, “The greatest mercy lies in [Jesus’] being in our midst, in our being in his presence and company. He walks with us, he shows us the path of love, he lifts us in our labors, he accompanies us in every circumstance of life” (Homily for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 2015).

So, these two contrasting realities are part of our human experience in the world today – the darkness and seeming despair of a broken and violent world, and the light of hope that comes to us through our faith in Jesus Christ. How can we not close our eyes to the suffering all around us – and, indeed, even be willing to enter into it – and yet still live in the hope and joy of following Christ? How can we be, as Pope Francis challenges us, “witnesses to the mercy and tenderness of God” in our world today? Again, I will turn to our Holy Father for his wisdom…

Rejoicing in Hope (Romans 12:12)

In his Message for World Youth Day 2023, “Rejoicing in Hope,” Pope Francis offers us a beautiful reflection on hope in the context of our present day.

He acknowledges that there is much in our experience that would lead us away from joy and hope. “When we think of human tragedies, especially the suffering of the innocent, we too can echo some of the Psalms and ask the Lord, ‘Why?’ At the same time, however, we can also be part of God’s answer to the problem. Created by him in his image and likeness, we can be signs of love, which gives rise to joy and hope even in situations that appear hopeless.”

The question is, then, how do we become agents of hope and joy in a time of profound distress.

First, we recognize that the “joy in hope” proclaimed by St. Paul comes not from our “human efforts, plans or skills,” but from our knowing and experiencing God’s love for us. In encountering the Divine Love and Mercy made flesh in the dying and rising of Jesus, and in receiving the “Real Presence” of the Crucified and Risen Christ in the Eucharist, we come to know the power and energy of God’s love.

The Resurrection of Christ gives rise to a hope that this Divine Love which overcomes sin and darkness, and even death, is at work in us who are His presence, His body, in the world today. And, the Risen One is with us “always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). As Pope Francis writes, “Christian hope is not a denial of sorrow and death; it is the celebration of the love of the risen Christ, who is always at our side, even when he seems far from us.”

Second, it is the Holy Spirit who “nurtures our hope.” We cooperate with the work of the Spirit through prayer and by our daily decisions.

In prayer, we “take some time each day to rest in God, especially when we feel overwhelmed by our problems.” Prayer is “the first strength of hope,” and allows us to see beyond the “dark and dreary” around us to the “light and warmth” of God’s love which “envelops us” and is “always there.”

In our daily decisions, we “choose a style of life” and make “concrete choices in our everyday lives” that are “grounded in hope.” Hope is “humble,” a virtue that is built up day by day in our lives. Our Holy Father challenges us. “[E]ach day, try to share a word of hope with others. Try to sow seeds of hope in the lives of your friends and everyone around you.”

Finally, our hope must take root in the present realities of our lives. As Pope Francis teaches, we are not to “flee from the world” in all of its shadows and difficulties, but to “love the times in which God has placed us” and to share the love and grace we have received “with the brothers and sisters that the Lord gives us each day.”

The darkness of our world remains, but our lives even amidst this darkness can take on the light of Christ’s presence. “The light of hope which is Christ … makes us see things in a new way, and in the darkness a certain beauty shines forth.”

As I sang in prayer on that Advent Sunday, with tear-filled eyes, truly Jesus is the “hope of the world.” Let us, together as his disciples, live in and give witness to our hope in Jesus in this new year of 2024. Deo Gratias!

When we see things in the light of hope, they appear different. I encourage you, then, to start seeing things this way. Thanks to God’s gift of hope, Christians are filled with a new joy that comes from within. The challenges and difficulties will always be there, but if we possess a hope ‘full of faith’, we can confront them in the knowledge that they do not have the final word. And we ourselves can become a small beacon of hope for others.

-Pope Francis, Message for World Youth Day 2023

Todd Graff is the Director of Lay Formation and RCIA