Hope can be defined in different ways, a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen, grounds for believing that something good may happen, or a feeling of trust. As a noun, hope can mean an aspiration, desire, wish, expectation, ambition, aim, plan, dream, longing, yearning, craving and as a verb hope can mean to expect, anticipate, look for, wait for, be hopeful of, want, wish for, dream of. Everyone knows what it is to hope.
We can know things. The Greek word Ginosko which is most often translated as “know” or “known” is a word that means so much more than that. In English the best way to translate it would probably be to personally, intimately, and experientially know something.
When we consider Christmas, we’re not just talking about waiting for the baby Jesus to be born, we know that happened 2,000 years ago. We are welcoming the Christ that is forever being born in the human soul and into history. Jesus took flesh in his birth, he was born the same way as you and I, His birth reveals his earthly existence and brings all humans into a common family, this we know. But what we yearn for is a knowing that is in the heart of each person, a hope that dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. “Hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:1-2.5).
This interplay of hope and waiting makes us see clearly that the Christian life is a journey calling for moments of greater intensity to encourage and sustain hope as the constant companion that guides our steps towards the goal of our encounter with the Lord Jesus.
This year as we prepare ourselves for the new liturgical year and season of Advent, we also prepare ourselves for what is to come in the 2025 Jubilee Year, Pilgrims of Hope.
Pope Francis writes:
“In our fast-paced world, we are used to wanting everything now. We no longer have time simply to be with others; even families find it hard to get together and enjoy one another’s company. Patience has been put to flight by frenetic haste, and this has proved detrimental, since it leads to impatience, anxiety and even gratuitous violence, resulting in more unhappiness and self-centredness.
Nor is there much place for patience in this age of the Internet, as space and time yield to an ever present “now”. Were we still able to contemplate creation with a sense of awe, we might better understand the importance of patience.”
This Advent let us make room as we await with hope. May the power of hope fill our days, as we await with confidence the coming of Jesus. Through our witness, may hope spread to all those who anxiously seek it so it becomes more than just words but a fully lived experience.
Awaiting Hope is a Diocesan resource that invites all members of the community to gather a circle of people – family, friends, colleagues, ministry teams to reflect mystagogically on the Advent Gospels. This is an opportunity to encounter Christ where we are, to pay attention to what Christ reveals in the scripture and the living tradition of our faith, to share this, to connect it to our life now and to be changed by it.
To access the resource, go to: https://www.mn.catholic.org.au/church-mission/catholic-life/liturgy/liturgical-year/advent-christmas-1/
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