Hope Dwells Within

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.

1 Peter 3:13-17

Do you know someone who just by talking with them your spirit is lifted and you seem to be filled with hope? These men and women have a gift of encouragement from the Lord. While this charism may seem small in comparison to maybe the gift of healing or preaching, it is in no way insignificant. There are so many people who are living in despair and just need someone to lift them up and remind them of the promises of God and His faithfulness. Someone to give them hope.

So what is hope? Hope is a one of the three theological virtues. The Church teaches, “The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity” (CCC 1818). As with any virtue, we should ask the Lord to increase our hope. 

In the passage quoted above from the first letter of St Peter we are told that we should always be ready to make an account of our hope. This means two things, first that we should expect that others will recognize the hope that lies within us, it will be attractive to them. Also, we should be prepared to speak of this gift of hope, telling them where it comes from and using encouraging words to lift their soul which is yearning for God. St Peter also instructs us to keep our conscience clear and be ready to suffer for our association with Christ; explaining that It’s better to suffer for Christ than to suffer because we have sinned against God.

Today we see so much confusion in the world surrounding what is good and what is evil. We see those in authority talking out of both sides of their mouth so to speak. Or worse we see some who call what is evil good and what is good evil. It is very tough to navigate through the web of information that is being given to us at a very rapid rate right now. It’s becoming common to hear something one day and then hear the complete opposite the next day, often with no clarification or assurity of which is actually true. One thing we need to remember is that the Lord is our unchanging Truth and within the human heart the Lord has written this Truth. Just a simple look back into Scripture will remind us of this promise. 

In Jeremiah 30:33 the prophet speaks of what is to come for Israel, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” While we can say that Isaiah was speaking directly to Israel, as we know from these inspired texts, these words are also for us and for every generation that is to come after us.

With this in mind, Jeremiah’s prophecy reveals to us how God’s law is written on our hearts and this creates a unity between us and God. This is done through the power of the Holy Spirit. This truly is Good News that we have been given a gift such as this! One way to understand this is through our conscience, which was created by God as a beacon in which the perfection of His law dwells. Our conscience is designed to help direct us toward good and warn us of evil, but unfortunately through our life circumstances it can be dulled and even completely covered over. So often we see God’s law being misinterpreted. This happens either through our own sin, which clouds our conscience, or through our exposure to and acceptance of sin, which dulls our conscience. 

The Truth is clear and it never changes. It is, was, and always will be, because the Truth is a person who is Jesus Christ. When we hear the Truth, it should activate our conscience and lift our spirits up to glorify God. It should encourage us to charity and bring hope and peace. When we hear lies from the enemy or distortions of the Truth it will confuse us, keep us in the dark, stagnant, and unable to feel peace, hope and love. Sin is the very thing that divides us from God. When we are reconciled with God, we will experience His mercy, His peace, His joy, and all of the other graces he wishes to pour out upon us. Where we have sinned, we have created a divide in our union with God’s grace and without grace we cannot know the Truth.

The good news is that God’s law can be strengthened and deepened within us through our seeking closeness with the Lord and our allowing ourselves to be purified of our sinful habits. Due to original sin and our concupiscence, we must realize how important it is to always be seeking a deeper understanding and relationship with the Lord. By developing habits that lead us to holiness, such as reading and praying with scripture on a daily basis, we will strengthen the law of God that is written on our hearts. St. Paul reminds us in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We must do the work of choosing what we are going to fill our minds with. All things either strengthen or hinder our union with Christ. We are either walking toward him or away from him in all things.

Today, we are at a point in history when the culture has drifted so far away from the Kingdom of God and has rejected God’s law in so many ways. As a result we are witnessing many in the Church veering way off track. With this being the case, if we are not steeped in God’s Word, in prayer, in the Sacraments, it will become increasingly harder to decipher between what is right and what is wrong. If we are not actively working to strengthen and deepen our relationship with the Lord, sharpening our conscience and removing all blocks so that we can see more clearly, we will get confused and be quickly led astray. 

The Catholic Church, which was founded by Jesus Christ and built up through the Apostolic Tradition, is the Bride of Christ and our Mother. Thus she has a very important role to play in salvation history, as well as in our own personal salvation. It is also true that all of her members collectively make up the Mystical Body of Christ, through whom the Church exists in the world today. Therefore, the Church can only be kept on track if there are souls who remain faithful to the Lord, while remaining united with the Church. 

In my own life, as I was led back to the Church, it was as if a veil was lifted and I was able to see things with new eyes. I was able to hear the Word spoken directly to me and my heart softened. My conscience, that was severely dulled while I was living in sin and exposed to so much sin, was renewed and transformed by the light of Christ. Today, I thank the Lord everyday for His mercy. Through prayer and daily Scripture reading, I do my part in keeping a well formed conscience, so that I may live my life in clarity of the Truth. 

So while the storm of the world swirls all around us, we can rest assured that God’s law has been written on our hearts. Like a little flame burning within each one of us, we must keep our flame burning and never let it go out. Even when it looks like there is no light in the world, we have a duty to keep our hearts burning with the Flame of Love. And not only keep it burning but to strengthen it so that as we unite our hearts in prayer during these times our flames will unite and become a burning column reaching up into the heavens.