As we go along life's journey putting one foot in front of another, we reap a harvest of hope. The only way we can keep moving on in spite of all the challenges there are on this journey is by reaping such harvest; by keeping hope alive. An Act of Hope says: "O God, I hope in you for grace and for glory, because of your promises, your mercy and your power." And that is what life is all about: grace and glory. Jesus bore his cross all the way to Calvary, where he laid down his life for us. And after this severe suffering, God rewarded him with glory in the resurrection and the ascension. Now Jesus sits forever at the right hand of the Father, where he basks in the grace of God, and similarly imparts such abundant grace to us through the Holy Spirit that comes to us in the Sacraments. Tantum ergo sacramentum veneremur cernui!
A harvest of hope is necessary to keep faith alive. You see, there are three theological virtues: faith, hope and charity. Our Christian journey begins with charity. Charity is the most important of the three theological virtues. St. Paul says in this regard to the Corinthians: "But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13). Love, or charity, as expressed in good works breeds faith in the human heart. It confirms and ratifies belief in goodness. Because in love we see the example of goodness and experience its soothing effect on us and on the beloved, we come to believe in goodness, in Jesus. With this faith, sourced through love, we persist in good works, in right conduct, hoping that at the end we will be rewarded with heaven. And so love gives birth to faith, which in turn engenders hope.
God's initial act of creation was an act of love. Elohim said: "Let us make people in our own image and likeness" (Gen. 1:26). God wanted to give man and woman all the good things possible. He loved us so much that theologians say he loved us into existence. But then, what does the Baltimore Catechism say is the reason for God's creation of people? "God made us to know him, love him, and serve him, in this world, and be happy with him in the next." And so the love that brought us into existence was to bear fruit in faith consequent on knowledge and service of God. This faith in turn would bring us hope in the happiness of the afterlife where we would rejoice eternally with Elohim. Love bears faith, and faith bears hope; hope sustains faith, and faith sustains love, and they all sustain us in our Christian life in spite of difficulties.
A harvest of hope is necessary for us to set our sights on the afterlife and not be bogged down in despair about the vicissitudes of this earthly existence, which philosophers have called the prison of the soul. A harvest of hope engenders in us a positive attitude that informs us of the fact that this world is not the end; that there is a crown after the cross; that all will be well with us at the last. Hope is dwelling in the grace and joy of the Holy Spirit in anticipation of heaven. Hope is keeping faith alive. Hope is the economy of faith. God gives us hope as a kind of tranquilizer when the devil buffets us with hardship that tests our faith. Like in the case of Job, after his wife had told him, "Curse God and die" (Job 2:9b). Hope is the force that makes it possible, when faith is weak and waning, to keep putting one foot in front of another. It is the reserve energy that keeps us going when the power source of faith falls short.
Hope reminds us of what Jesus said: "In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Hope allows us to realize that there is a "balm in Gilead" (Jer. 8:22). Hope reminds us as well that "dry bones shall rise again" (Eze.37). Hope feeds us with the milk of peace in spite of trouble. "I look up to the mountains, from where shall come my help. My help comes from the Lord that made both heaven and earth" (Psalm 121:1-2). Like Maria in the Sound of Music, "the hills fill our hearts with the sound of music, with songs they have sung for a thousand years, and our hearts want to sing every song they hear; to beat like the wings of birds that fly from the lake to the stream; to laugh like the brook when it trips and falls over stones on its way." The sound of music is the sound of hope.
A harvest of hope is like a "lark learning to play." We "go to the hills when our hearts are low," and they lift us up with hope. We "know we will hear what we've heard before," because "the hills are alive with the sound of music, and so we'll sing as well once more." Hope keeps us singing, on and on and on. Hope justifies the joy in our heart. Hope fills us with the power of peace, and the contentment of truth. In spite of the troubles of life; in spite of the disappointments that existence brings us; in spite of the turbulence of the days ahead; the fact that we cannot predict what tomorrow will bring; in spite of our fears; in spite of our hardships - hope keeps us going. Along this journey of life; along the path less taken by Robert Frost and ourselves; along the way to God, hope keeps us putting one foot in front of another, and on, and on, and on.
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