HOPE
The Transitus
of our holy father St. Francis will already have been celebrated when most of
you receive this spiritual reflection.
Francis’ passing from mortal to everlasting life can be viewed in many
ways. One worldly way to view the time
leading up to and including Francis’ death is negatively (typical of the
world). Namely, that he was in poor health, nearly blind, losing lots of blood
every day, in very poor physical shape, wracked by pain and in desolate surroundings
(lying on a bed made of sticks and pestered by biting mice). The worldly would
say, “Why believe in a god that allows so much misery to afflict a faithful
soul?” This is a very real concern. This is a very real question. How would you
go about answering it?
One way to go about entering into
a dialogue with our worldly minded brothers and sisters is from the perspective
of Christian hope. Not much is written or even heard of Christian hope these
days, yet it accompanies us on ‘every step home to heaven.’ Christian hope is
different from a worldly hope: I hope I’ll win the lotto tonight; I hope things
get better; I hope I’ll get a pay rise; I hope so and so wins the election,
etc. Here, hope is a kind of weak wish
that things will get better. Christian
hope is something entirely different.
Hope revealed in Sacred Scripture
means more than a vague wish that something positive will happen. It is
grounded in faith, with a sure and confident expectation in God’s promises and
presence. For a Christian, hope is the
horizon that extends beyond death into the eternity prepared by God himself,
the reality of which is guaranteed by Christ, namely: God and Christ are the
hope of believers (Ps 71.5; Jer 14.8; Mt 12.21; Acts 28.20 and many
more). Specifically, hope has the
foundation of the promise of an everlasting, ever joyful resurrection from the
dead (Acts 23.6; Tit 1.2; Rom 8.18-21; 2 Cor 3.10-12; Gal 5.5; and many other
references). The temporal world is not
our permanent abode.
It is precisely the elements of
Christian hope that are lacking in the worldly minded, in the self-centered, in
the self-indulgent, and the materialistic who live from an “only one life, make
the most of it” mindset. An absence of
Christian hope leads to a loss of vision, a sense of despondency and ultimately
to despair. It sounds depressing, in fact this sounds like depression, doesn’t
it? (See Job 17.13-15;
Isa 19.9; 38.18; 2 Cor 1.8; Ezk 37.11; Jer 8.3; Rev 9.6.) And let’s not forget that depression is very
alive and active in today’s world, afflicting many.
At times God can seem very close
to us and hope becomes real and tangible, but at other times, especially when
trouble, grief or tragedy strike, our hope seems to evaporate. Brothers and sisters of Jesus and Francis, sometimes
we can be very worldly minded and devoid of hope. We run on automatic, attend Mass,
attend meetings, receive spiritual input yet remain dry, despondent, and
lifeless.
This is precisely why the witness
of St Francis is so important. Despite his pain, discomfort, suffering,
ailments, alienation, weakness and trauma, he always witnessed to his hope of
being resurrected in the Lord Jesus.
This was his goal: to be with the One he loved and served on earth. The
One he always trusted to work ‘all things’ for the good of those who believe. Difficult
circumstances did not drag him down, as they do the worldly minded. Indeed, all the burdens he bore culminated in
the kind of death we recognize as leading to eternal life.
As I said earlier, I strongly believe,
and the lives of the saints testify to the fact, that hope accompanies every
step of those who are ‘heaven directed.’
How else could Francis have died joyfully and at peace? And what was the
powerhouse that drove him to this vision?
Please take a little pause and think about it. After all, this is what
spiritual input is about. What would you
say was the powerhouse of Francis’ happy death despite being surrounded by what
the worldly minded fear and despair about?
We do not have to guess at the
answer because Francis himself said at the end of his life, “When I left the
world what was bitter to me seemed sweet…. The Most High Himself revealed to me
that I should live according to the form of the Holy Gospel.” (Testament) “I have done my part; may Christ teach you
yours” (2 Cel. 214). In this we can see ‘hope fulfilled’, despite what the
world would call unfair circumstances.
What the world thinks
contemptible can be, for the heaven directed soul, a means of sanctification. Therefore,
with the memory of Francis’ Transitus fresh in our minds, let us embrace the
hope-filled legacy it contains: “I have done my part; may Christ teach you
yours.” Let us use the discomfort and
suffering that difficult circumstances generate in worldly minded people as an
opening in order to try to restore a vision of Christian hope in their lives.
Father Francis, we thank you for
this legacy of hope; we accept your hope-directed aspiration that Christ is
indeed teaching and guiding us to do our part. Please pray for us that we may
become beacons of hope in our part of the world. And may we offer this hope to those we
encounter. Amen.
May the Lord grant
you peace.
Friar David M.
Huebner OFM Conv
National Spiritual Assistant
SFO – Oceania.