HOPE FOR BLESSEDNESS – 6th Sunday Ordinary Time
Everyone puts their hope in something or someone to make them happy or blessed. Misplaced hope leads to unhappiness. Many put their hope in money or material possessions, that can only bring limited and passing hope. For the highest form of happiness or blessedness, we need to place our hope in the Lord. Only the Lord can provide all that our human life needs and was created for. “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.”
We are made for God who alone can fulfill our whole life. Our hope, therefore, has to be placed even beyond other people. “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” The one who doesn’t put hope in the Lord is “like a barren bush in the desert”. The one whose hope and trust is the Lord lives a fruitful life, like a tree that gets plenty of sun and rain. Besides the sun and the rain, we need the Son of God and the Holy Spirit to make us spiritually fruitful.
Those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus have hope of being raised up with Christ. Having been made for life with God in this life and beyond, we cannot limit the placing of our hope in only what we can see present on the earth. “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
The life we receive in Christ Jesus is an eternal life bearing fruit beyond death, in eternity. Whatever temporary life sin can give will die and produce no lasting fruit. What is only of earth will die or will have to be left behind. Hope in the Lord is fulfilled in eternity. We are blessed when our hope is in the Lord and His promises, which we can never earn or deserve. What the Lord promises us, and we are not yet in full possession of, means that we are poor until we possess it fully. “Blest are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.”
When we hope for something, there is a hunger and thirst for it until we have it. The most blessed of people are those who hunger and thirst for the Lord and the promises and gifts of the Lord. The Lord wants to fulfill the good hungers and thirsts we have. “Blest are you who now hunger, for you will be satisfied.” When we weep for ourselves or others for having lost or not accepted those gifts which are good and according to God’s will, we are blest. “Blest are you who are not weeping for you will laugh.”
The hope we have in the Lord is worth suffering for if necessary. It’s worth sacrificing earthly hopes. People sacrifice lesser hopes or greater hopes even naturally. Some sacrifice money for an occupation that brings them greater natural fulfillment, or allows them to be with their family more, or to do more good for others. Our hope in Christ and the kingdom of heaven is worth sacrificing whatever is called for.
That is far better than to suffer the woes of those who are not poor in spirit because they think they don’t need the Lord. Their hope is in what is passing. They are filled up, and don’t hunger and thirst for the Lord. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.” Spiritual hunger is a grace from God. Our culture has so many things to put hope in. The danger is that people will neglect to put their hope in the Lord, and their spiritual needs and hopes will be neglected. The more material and natural distractions we have, the more we need to consciously work on our spiritual hopes, hungers and thirsts.
There are signs that tell us people are aware of their spiritual needs, thirsts and hungers. They pray and are careful to keep the commandments, and are in constant repentance and conversion. They are allergic to sin. They pray with the Church. They want spiritual knowledge. They hunger for the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church. They have to be with the Lord. They don’t allow possessions, and their pursuit, to dominate their lives. They sacrifice for their faith. They witness to their faith in their words and deeds. The Lord comes first in their lives.
“Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.”
From the Diary of St. Faustina -998
“I am giving mankind the last hope of salvation, that is, recourse to My mercy.”
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