Just what makes that little old ant think he can move a rubber tree plant? Anyone knows an ant can't move a rubber tree plant. But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes, he's got high apple pie in the sky hopes!
How are we doing with hope? Do we have high hopes? Does our hope help us move our own rubber tree plants?
Hope lives in each of us or we would not be here today. Many of us already know, and the rest of us will one day, that even in difficult times, in the toughest of situations, still, there is hope.
As people of faith we are people of hope; high hopes!
Hope is a theme in today's readings and the psalm. But what is this hope? It is a virtue, in fact, hope, along with faith and love are the three theological virtues that we find in the catechism of the church and Holy Scripture. What must be present for hope to really be hope? The church tells us that three conditions must exist for hope to be a virtue: to actively pursue God and Heaven as our destiny, knowing that Heaven is possible (but not guaranteed) and knowing that failing to reach Heaven is also possible (not because of God's doing but always our own doing).
Today we hear proclaimed by the prophet Jeremiah that blessed are those who hope in the Lord and cursed are those who only hope in man. And this theme is repeated in the responsorial psalm, those who hope in the Lord will yield fruit in good season, whatever he does propsers!
This lesson for us today is this: no matter what our everyday realities may be, the challenges and the opportunities, the good and the not so good, hope in the Lord, if it be virtuous, is real and true and always pleasing in the eyes of God.
Did we catch hope in today's Gospel? Maybe the word is not there but hope is truly present. Jesus comes down to level ground and delivers his sermon on the Plain, unique to Luke's Gospel as the sermon on the Mount is unique to the Gospel of Matthew. What we hear proclaimed today is a counter-cultural presentation of blessings and woes. Why counter-cultural? Let's look at who is blessed: the poor, the hungry, the weeping, those who are hated, especially for the sake of Jesus. This is radical; counter-cultural. I say we need a lot more counter-cultural in our day now.
I've witnessed great hope in the poor, in what the world deems as losers, losers too because we preach Christ crucified and risen from the dead, losers too because we preach all that he taught us. I've witnessed hope in those called unwanted and useless, thrown away by the cultural elites of today. In the very men I minister with in prison I witness hope, high hopes, with every visit. And the hope is not just in maybe being free one day from prison, it is a hope in being free from their crimes, mistakes and sins and being set free, really free by the hope of heaven.
Now who does Jesus say will experience woe? The rich, those filled, those who laugh, those who are spoken well of; woe to them says Jesus. Radical, counter-cultural. To those who only want to seek fame and fortune, the esteem of other men, food and money, woe to you. So is laughing, food, money and fame necessarily bad? No. It is bad if this is where we place all our hope, if this is our destiny, if we fail to share our largess with others, if we fail to pursue God and Heaven as our ultimate destiny. Instead, those who have hope in the Lord, who hope in God and Heaven, ultimately, these are the ones who will laugh and be filled and be rich, truly rich!
In our life and world today, from personal challenges that may include the loss of a loved one, a challenge with an illness, financial struggles, to name a few, and to the very public horror we witness everyday most that disrespects the gift of human life, we are still called to be a people of hope, high hope, the virtue of hope. The news recently from the states of New York and Virginia concerning expanding the evil and sinful act of abortion is certainly devastating news. Yet in times and situations even as these, we are called to hope. We are also called to fight, but our fight is grounded in the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. In hope, we stay the couse, we fight, we stand up to evil. Remember, hope is our relentless pusuit of God and Heaven.
Our takeaway from Mass today, especially after we receive the Body & Blood of Jesus in Holy Eucharist, we never lose hope, we persevere in hope and we demonstrate hope, along with faith and love to all we meet.
Hope is what our faith longs for, even if the evidence is unseen(Heb 11:1) and Hope in the Lord will renew our strength, we will soar on eagle's wings, we will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint(Is 40:31).
Hope in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Hope in the spotless bride of Christ, the Church; real hope, high hopes, high apple pie in the sky hopes.
So any time you're getting low, stead of letting go just remember that ant, oops there goes another rubber tree plant!
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