By Sr. Mary Grace Thul, OP
Bede Jarrett, OP writes: Faith is the basis of life, and charity is its crown; but hope is its greatest need. Most of the difficulties of life come because we are so prone to lose heart.
If losing heart is the opposite of hope, I agree whole heartedly with Jarrett. When difficulties or troubles abound, it is hope that acts like a life jacket and keeps us afloat. In our narcissistic and critical world, hope is all the more needed. The heartbeat of present day culture seems bent on its own destruction of spirit. The tendency to concentrate on what divides us is so strong that we forget what unites us. This is true not only in politics and race, but in religion as well.
Hope, though greatly enhanced by a working and faith-sharing community, really depends upon one person: myself. Recent scholarship suggests that some depression is actually a habitual state of mind that looks more to the dark side of life than to the light. To keep hope then is to keep one's face turned toward the light, and know that however dark the cloud that obscures it, the sun will break forth once more.
No comments:
Post a Comment