Hope needed in our earthly journey

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THE clear lesson we can learn from the parable about the wheat and the weeds (cfr. Mt 13,24-43) is that we should just have hope amid all the trials and challenges in our earthly life, since God will take care of everything. We should avoid overreaching our capacity to resolve all our problems here in life, since most likely we would end up doing more harm than good in the process.

If we have strong faith in God, we can manage to be hopeful and even optimistic, oozing with confidence, whatever challenges and difficulties we can encounter in life. Christ himself said that “in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33)

Hope is never naivete, but is a certainty that is based on the belief that God never loses battles, since he is the Lord of history, assuring us that he will be with us, guiding us till the end of time. (cfr. Mt 28,20).

If we have a strong faith in God, we know that he will do things whenever he wants, sooner, more and better, and even in spite of us. We should not allow the suspense and the mysteries of our life to bother us too much. Thus, part of the signs of hope is to have a sporting spirit in our life.

Of course, this virtue of hope is first of all a gift from God. It’s a theological virtue for which we should never stop asking God for it. And from there, let us align our attitude, outlook, habits and practices to this truth of our faith. Let us not doubt that God is ever eager to give this gift to us.

With hope, we can see things better and would be more encouraged to undertake ambitious projects of human redemption in the very heart of our daily affairs. We would have clear vision of the real and ultimate purpose of our life, and the means and the path to take to reach that goal, whatever may be the circumstances at a given moment.

This virtue of hope also lets us see the past, the present and the future through the eyes of God. It will always fill us with joy and peace, with a deep sense of confidence, knowing that whatever the drama we may encounter in life, God will always have the last word, and that word can only mean victory.

We should inspire others to always have hope. We should try our best to be credible witnesses of the hope that, in the words of St. Paul, “does not defraud, because the love of God has been poured in our hearts.” (Rom 5,5)

With faith and hope, we can manage to endure anything and to persevere, because as St. Paul told us once: “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Phil 1,6)

While it’s true that we are completely responsible for our life, we should not forget that life has more things to give us than what we can handle. Hope gives us that impetus to let things be and let go of certain things, abandoning ourselves in the hands of God who is in control of everything, just like Christ abandoned himself to the will of his Father and submitted himself to his own death on the cross.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com