There is a hope that does not disappoint.
Yesterday morning, I wrote about anxiety. I’m guessing if you didn’t suffer from it before the pandemic and the rest of the big stuff this year, you might now. I think maybe all of us suffer from it at some point or another, while some suffer more than others.
One of the things that I’ve found is hard to grasp in those moments of anxiety is hope. It’s so easy to fall into thinking about all the ways things could go wrong and lose sight of the many things that could go right.
And it’s so easy to be disappointed when we muster up hope and what we were hoping for didn’t manifest in the end.
There is, however, a hope that doesn’t disappoint.
In his Easter Sunday message, Pope Francis spoke about what Jesus’ resurrection means in light of our current circumstances. He said:
“In the face of, or better, in the midst of this complex reality, the Easter Proclamation speaks concisely of the event that gives us the hope that does not disappoint: Jesus who was crucified has risen. It speaks to us not about angels or ghosts, but about a man, a man of flesh and bone, with a face and a name: Jesus… Jesus took upon himself our weakness, our infirmities, even our death. He endured our sufferings and bore the weight of our iniquity….The witnesses [of the resurrection] report an important detail: the risen Jesus bears the marks of the wounds in his hands, feet and side. These wounds are the everlasting seal of his love for us. All those who experience a painful trial in body or spirit can find refuge in these wounds and, through them, receive the grace of the hope that does not disappoint.”
I wonder what would happen if next time I’m feeling anxious or wounded or uncertain or afraid, I remember that a man… a man made of flesh and bone… suffered for us and showed us what was on the other side of all suffering. I wonder what would happen if I held on a little more tightly to the hope that does not disappoint.
