Where is Hope?

 

    What do you do when you receive news that pushes the bottom out of your heart, news that fractures any sense of stability you‘ve held on to despite the pandemic? I think about how many people have been in that position of getting news that someone they love has had their world turned upside down by addiction, accident, job loss, or other calamity. This, on top of pandemic, can shatter most anyone.

    When someone gets this kind of news, the question often surfaces: What can I do to help the situation? Often the answer is “not much” or even “nothing.” This feeling of being alone and without help when there is a crisis is enough to raise a cloud of frustration, even despair in most of us.

    Questions arise: How much more can a person carry?  Where is God in all this mess? In her head a Christian knows the answer is that God is present in the midst of it, but this question itself comes not from the head but from the heart. Answers are less black and white and more a matter of faith or trust.                  

    But where in this maelstrom of pain, disappointment, and helplessness does a person with faith find any hope? If God is there, hope has to be there as well, but in our current days where so much is nebulous, hope can be hard to find. Sometimes it helps if we try to open our ears and eyes, then look around.

    Do you notice the food servers and dish washers in that small restaurant where you picked up a lunch? They likely need to be there despite health risks. How about the folks who collect the trash you put curbside? Have you thought about how medical workers and teachers risk their health to do their jobs? What about generosity of carpenters who make free in-home desks for poor kids who have to go to school online? Each one is a manifestation of God’s care for us.

    But it’s not just adults who reveal God’s presence. What about kids who step up to do odd jobs for neighbors? How about kindergartners who make cards for shut-ins? Then there are older kids who go out of their way to relieve their parents by giving extra attention to their siblings.

     In other words, God is revealed in the actions of people who reach out to those who need help, and believe it or not, there’s a lot of that giving going on all around us. I think we see it, but often it doesn’t register as something special. The Uber driver, the cop on the corner, the grocery store clerks, postal workers, and many others are risking health to be of service and trying to keep their businesses afloat.

    When hopelessness, anxiety, and frustration surface in our daily lives during these trying times, try to recall the nearness of God’s love by paying special attention to its manifestations in our neighbors and even ourselves. Hope is around and within; we just need to pay attention to the ubiquitous signs of its presence.

                   
           Sr. Colleen Winston, OSB

Challenge to Respond as Christ

     

Recently I was enjoying an evening walk with a friend, both of us masked and keeping some distance from one another.  We were approached by another walker who with raised voice said, “Democrats, right!” as he walked past.  Initially shocked we both looked at each other with disbelief, asking did that just happen?  My choice to wear a mask is not politically motivated but rather is about safety and a sense of doing my part to reduce the spread of Covid-19.  Knowing this, I felt myself becoming angry with this man, his assumptions about my motivations and his seeming disdain for us.

            Later, we and others to whom I told the story came up with many retorts that could have been hurdled back.  It may be just as well that in moments like that my mind slows and my tongue goes silent keeping words I might regret from escaping.  This experience left me with a larger question, how do I respond as Jesus Christ would have in moments like this one?  Jesus expressed anger at times but more often than not responded with a sense of compassion and care for the other person.  He offered a parable or a question to effect change on the other party.  His goal was to find ways to soften hearts, heal and draw people together.  In these days of Covid-19 and our approaching election which seem to exacerbate differences I pray for the grace:

·         to see the other with the compassionate and caring eyes of Christ

·         to listen with ears that seek to really hear and understand even when I disagree

·         to speak words that foster healing and connection

·         to live with a soft heart that remains open and vulnerable

·         to respond as Christ to whatever I encounter along the way

       Sr. Kimberly Porter, OSB