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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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Hopeby Fr Anthony Logan
How does the conclusion of Lent leave us? As the Easter season takes over are we at a loose end, missing the discipline of our Lenten exercises, the times we earmarked for prayer and study? The whole Lenten exercise is ordered as a preparation for Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus as the event which above all gives meaning to our existence with encouragement to achieve the supreme goal of heaven. In other words it gives us cause to hope. We are called to live virtuous lives, to have an habitual and firm disposition to do good. The three Theological Virtues of faith, hope and charity give us the impetus to live by that code. Of the three, hope may be the one to which we pay least attention. Hope is the virtue that inspires us with the conviction that the kingdom of heaven is attainable, the resurrection of Jesus is the evidence we need – we can be assured of that hope. The virtue of hope purifies our aspirations for happiness so that the kingdom of heaven is foremost. It saves us from discouragement, sustains us when we feel abandoned, gives patience when times are hard. It protects us in the struggle – when ‘we put on the breastplate of faith and charity, wearing hope as a helmet’. Where there’s life there’s hope, we say. The converse can be said to be true, where there’s hope there’s life – ‘He is risen, he is not here’, the empty tomb is a sign of hope. We do hope for all manner of things in the natural order from day to day, for success in this or that endeavour. It is hope in an uncertain future based on present effort to secure it. The Christian virtue of hope looks to a certain future in spite of an uncertain present. Over a period of forty days the disciples were blessed with added grounds for hope in the time when Jesus appeared – in the upper room, on the road to Emmaus, breakfast by the Sea of Galilee, to James and to five hundred together on one occasion. Then comes the day when they see him ascend and a cloud finally hides him from their sight. He had given them their orders, to go and teach all nations. They are told to prepare, to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They do so as a united church. These ten days between Ascension and Pentecost are a time of prayer for the Reunion of Christendom, a tradition that predates the January octave of prayer. The Ascension gives us added grounds for hope, that where Jesus has gone we can follow. He has a place prepared for us. |
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