How can I maintain hope in these difficult times?
According to Greek mythology, Zeus wanted to take revenge on Prometheus for having stolen fire from the gods to give it to humans, and he created for Epitemeo (brother of Prometheus) a woman named Pandora, with whom he married. Pandora was created with great gifts but also with great curiosity. As a wedding gift, Zeus gives Pandora a jar (box) with instructions not to open it under any circumstances. Because of her intrinsic curiosity, Pandora opens the jar and in doing so, she escapes all the ills of the world. When Pandora was finally able to close the jar, in it only hope was trapped. Hence the expression: "Hope is the last thing that is lost."
Today, hope is a gift for which humanity must constantly pray. When reading the news it seems that the world is on its head. Every day we wake up with new terrorist attacks, legalization of abortion, persecution of Christians, allegations of abuse against women, and many other painful situations. At the same time, in the realm of personal life, one may be going through pressing economic situations, complicated family circumstances, spiritual crises, unbearable physical states; all these, things that steal our joy.
In the face of so much pain and sadness, how can we avoid "letting go" of hope? How to keep it in our "tinaja"?
Here are some tips (from my own experience) so you can live the virtue of hope in your reality:
- Have your feet on the ground. Be realistic
Being a Christian has not been easy at any time in history. Currently in the Middle East the persecution of Christians is constant, every day people die because of their faith (one of the objectives of the Islamic State are Christians), and in the Western world, ideologies such as gender and law to decide, they ideologically pursue whoever does not assume their conception of man and woman (homosexual marriage, the right to abort, etc.).
In this sense, being realistic means taking on the suffering of today, not turning a blind eye to the difficulties of being a Christian and being willing to accept the consequences of being who we are.
It is important to understand the dynamics between the Christian faith and the world, so as not to fall into the temptation of considering hope as a mere ideal that consists of "trusting" that everything will go well and that Christians will be understood and accepted. entirely. This way we avoid having what is known as "false hopes" that, by letting us down, take away our hope altogether.
- Keep your eyes on the sky. A life of prayer
The word hope comes from the Latin "spes" which means to wait. So, what does a Christian expect? What does a Christian expect that can fill him with joy even in the darkest moments? In the words of Pope Francis, a Christian: «(...) awaits someone who is about to arrive: it is Christ the Lord who is always closer to us».
In short, the Christian awaits Christ. Pope Francis refers to hope in the following terms: "Christian hope is not just a wish, an auspiciousness, it is not optimism: for a Christian, hope is waiting, fervent expectation, passionate about the final and final fulfillment of a mystery, the mystery of the love of God in which we have been reborn and in which we already live ».
The only way to get to know the mystery of love that gives meaning to life and human suffering, is through prayer; know Christ This may sound very complicated far away, but it really is not like that, it's really as simple as going to the nearest church on a Sunday afternoon, getting on your knees before the tabernacle and saying: "Hi God, I'm Kris and I'm here to find out more about you ». It will be He who will teach you his truth and his promises. To stand before God is to encounter the most real unconditional and eternal love that exists, to see love in its highest degree of purity, to be invited to trust deeply in his words and to wait joyfully on Him.
Maintaining a prayer life gives you the opportunity to confirm this experience of trust every day, and to truly know that there is something beyond pain.
In that sense, it has been said several times that the Virgin Mary is the first Christian. The Virgin is the greatest example of how to live the virtue of hope, since it is she who gives her "fiat" (yes) to the Lord, trusting entirely in her plan. May we not confide our fears and ask him to intercede with God through our hearts so that the Holy Spirit fills them with trust and hope in the Lord.
- Never tire of asking for the virtue of hope
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According to the catechism of the Catholic Church, the virtue of hope is one of the three theological virtues (faith, hope and charity). Qualifying it by theological virtue is important because it assumes that it has "origin, motive and immediate object to God himself," which means that it comes from God and takes you directly to God.
To live the hope in our life, we can not forget to ask it of the Lord. God himself encourages us when he reminds us: "If you then, being evil, know how to give your children good things, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?" (Matthew 7, eleven).
He more than anyone wants to see us happy and happy, He more than anyone knows our struggles and pains, and it is He who really dies to comfort and embrace us in times of suffering. Let's not forget to always go to God to ask us to fill our hearts with hope in his promises and in his love.
In short, living Christian hope is living hope in the promise of the One who has loved us to the extreme. It is about facing the pains and trials of each day knowing that the culture of death, evil, injustice and suffering do not have the last word since Christ has already defeated the world. In fact, if we grow in our knowledge and love for the Lord, we will be able to "trap" in our tinaja the great consoling virtue of hope.