Here and Now with Francis 9/28/17 (Christ, hope, Peguy, Millet, van Gogh)
[T]oday I would like to reflect with you on the enemies of hope, because hope has its enemies, as every good in this world has its enemies.
See why it’s important to guard one’s heart, opposing temptations to unhappiness, which certainly don’t come from God.
We can repeat that simple prayer, of which we also find traces in the Gospels and which has become the foundation of so many Christian spiritual traditions: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner!” – a beautiful prayer. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner!”
It’s not true that “so long as there is life there is hope,” as is usually said. If anything, it’s the contrary: it’s hope that keeps life upright, that protects it, guards it and makes it grow. If men had not cultivated hope, if they were not supported by this virtue, they would never have comes out of the caves, and would have left no trace in the history of the world. It’s the most divine that can exist in man’s heart.
A French poet — Charles Peguy – has left us wonderful pages on hope (Cf. “The Portal of the Mystery of Hope”). He says, poetically, that God is not so astonished by the faith of human beings or by their charity, but what really fills Him with wonder and emotion is people’s hope: “That those poor children – he writes – see how things are going and believe that it will be better tomorrow morning.”
The poet’s image recalls the faces of the many people that have passed through this world — peasants, poor labourers, migrants in search of a better future — that have fought tenaciously despite the bitterness of a difficult today, full of so many trials, encouraged, however, by the confidence that the children would have a more just and more serene life. They struggled for their children; they struggled in hope.
Hope is the thrust in the heart of one who sets out, leaving home, land, sometimes family and relatives – I think of migrants — to seek a better life, more fitting for himself and his dear ones. And it’s also a thrust in the heart of one who receives: the desire to encounter one another, to get to know one another, to dialogue . . . Hope is the thrust to share the journey.
Sometimes, to have had everything in life is a misfortune. Think of a youth who was not taught the virtue of waiting and of patience, who hasn’t had to sweat for anything, who has forged ahead and at 20 “knows already how the world runs”: he is destined to the worst condemnation: that of not desiring anything more. He seems a youth; instead, autumn has already fallen on his heart. They are the young people of autumn.
To have an empty mind is the worst obstacle to hope. It’s a risk of which no one can say to himself that he is excluded, because to be tempted against hope can also happen when one is following the way of the Christian life. The monks of antiquity denounced one of the worst enemies of fervour.
If Jesus has overcome the world, He is able to overcome in us all that is opposed to the good. If God is with us, no one will rob us of that virtue of which we are in absolute need to live. No one will rob us of hope. [link]
