Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 - Tuesday in the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 8:18-25 and Luke 13:18-21]For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. [Romans]
When asked about the important character, Dilsey, the family servant in THE SOUND AND THE FURY, William Faulkner responded, "She endured." When I ministered in Memphis, TN, (1980-86) I was invited to give a day retreat for the women's group at a local parish. I decided to use some fairly traditional terms to organize the day: three presentations with one each for Faith, Hope, and Love. I discovered during the day that faith and love were not a challenge for the ladies. What they all were looking for was HOPE! What could help them get up day after day and "endure" the challenges they were facing: adult children who no longer go to church or have their children baptized, indifferent or hostile spouses, aging parents needing care, etc.?
With the observance of Mosaic Law no longer the source of a person's "righteousness" before God, what could a person rely on for the present or for eternity? Paul submits that it is the person of Christ - the one who suffered and rose from the dead. Hope for the present consists in persistent endurance. Note the opening lines of today's passage: "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed to us." Critics of Christianity claim this is "pie in the sky by and by." Our response is that Christ offers us hope and a way to live in that hope. What can any secular set of values offer to deal with the day to day challenges like the ones I have mentioned? God is faithful and we will receive what we need. If we lose that hope, we lose everything. AMEN