A Season to Rekindle Hope and Trust in God

Verses for reference: Baruch 5:1-9; Psalm 126; Philippians 1:4-6,8-11; Luke 3:1-6

One of the major themes that runs throughout the entire season of Advent is that of hope. But in order to understand what we mean by hope, we have to see it the way the Church understands hope. 

In the letter of the Hebrews we hear, “Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy.” The Church has always maintained that if we do not have faith first, how can you have hope? It’s sort of like expecting the government to come out and help you when you don’t trust the government. It's not hope. It’s wishful thinking. 

But this is true in so many things in our life. In the philosophies of humanism or existentialism, the idea is that we are the authors of our own destiny. In other words, that we are our own gods, that we shape our future; we determine how we are supposed to live. I.e., we trust ourselves to provide our own hope and again, that is wishful thinking, because we have no way to trust our decision-making (especially if your decision-making is anything like mine was when I was young). But we are blessed, and so we’re given the season of Advent to remind us that we are filled with hope, that we can look forward to the future, knowing that God fulfills his promises. And that’s the whole point of the season of Advent: always looking forward with expectation for the good that God has planned for us. 

Most of us spend Advent preparing for Christmas, the Incarnation, the coming of Jesus as a baby. But the Church encourages us to always look at Advent also as preparing for the second coming, to spend as much effort, if not more, preparing for Christ’s coming at the end of time. 

Are we ready? 

And part of that, of course, is are we optimistic about His coming? Are we hopeful? And the answer again relies on the question: do we have faith? 

In the book of Baruch, we hear the words: “The forests and every fragrant kind of tree have overshadowed Israel at God’s command; for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company.” The optimism of the Israelites was only there because they trusted in God. Psalm 126 tells us, “the Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.” Again, Scripture is asking us to recognize the gifts in our lives that God has already given us as a foreshadowing of the promises that will be fulfilled in the future. And then, of course, the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians states: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” 

For each one of us who is baptized, that good work has been begotten in us and faith is knowing that God will lead us to its completion. And then of course we have that beautiful reading from Isaiah as told in the Gospels, “the voice of the one crying out in the desert: prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his path. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding road shall be made straight and the rough way smooth and all flesh shall see salvation of God." 

That is what we’re hoping for. That’s what we’re preparing for. This preparation is not just the job of John the Baptist. This preparation is the job of every single one of us, because each one of us is called to prepare the way of the Lord, primarily in our hearts. 

Are we ready for God to come to us? Are we ready to receive Him in the Eucharist? And, especially, are ready for him when he comes at the end of our lives? 

There’s something else we’re supposed to prepare for: we’re supposed to prepare the world for Jesus! How are we called to do this? We are called to be a people of faith, a people of hope, a people of joy, and a people of love in a world that so desperately needs it. In a way, Advent asked us to imagine the world where God isn’t present and sadly, this is easier and easier to do. Because if we look at the world we live in, in many parts of it, God is not wanted. We have more despair in this world today than in the history of man. And despair is the absence of hope. The reason we have the absence of hope is because we have the absence of faith. We have abandoned God, and we trust in nothing, and we no longer have hope. But it is our job as Christians to bring that hope into the world, in our homes, our communities, and our workplace. 

Everywhere and every day, our job is to reflect the faith, hope, joy, and love that our faith calls us to live out not just in Advent, but in every day of our lives. 

Because we are called to prepare the way of the Lord. That’s our job. God calls us to live that out: to be a people of hope, not just in word, but in deed. But the way, the only way we can do that is if we have faith, if we trust in what God promises. And Jesus, I trust you. 

Amen.