It's
so easy to be a skeptic today! It's easy to rail against systems and people who
are supposed to work for our benefit but fail us.
I
think today's political stage is so chaotic in part because it acts like a
great pressure release valve for the
frustration and anger many people feel about systems that make their life
difficult. Lots of things are broken, and people are searching for a
"fixer." Candidates who promise something simple and certain get lots
of attention. Desperation seeks quick solutions.
Amazingly,
there is something buried in this maelstrom that unites everyone involved.
Every single person believes there is a way out. Every one has hope! Looked at from this perspective,
Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Pope Francis and even Jesus all
have something in common: the fervent crowds that follow them believe they have
answers that can fix systems and better their lives. This seems especially
obvious in the ministry of Pope Francis.
Why
has this man stirred the hearts of the world? One reason is, I think, because
he exudes hope. He chooses to live and minister especially to the people who
have little hope – the poor, sick, imprisoned, unemployed…. Like Jesus, people in need flock to him. Like
Jesus, no one in our time has spoken quite like this, and he speaks with
authority drenched in love and compassion.
Hope
is a power source; one can see that today in the crowds following both Francis
and the presidential candidates. Hope contains a challenge though. It addresses
what may come, not what is or was.
This means work is involved. Hope lives not in a vacuum but in individuals. It
gives them energy and impetus that must be tapped if it is to bear fruit.
The
French poet Charles Peguy (1873-1914) wrote that while "hope moves the
world…and carries it," hope itself is carried by its two sisters, faith
and charity. (Portal of the Mystery of
Hope, 1912) The person with hope
must believe in the cause and have enough love for self and others to do the
work. It requires no work to be a skeptic or to accept simplistic answers to
profoundly complex questions, so hope is often the "road less
travelled," to use Robert Frost's famous image (The Road Not Taken, 1916).
During
this Lenten season we are conscious that Jesus didn't take the easy path. The
path laid out by his Father took profound hope. Knowing this, Jesus told us that if we want to
be his follower, the cross must be our baggage too. Quick and easy answers
weren't part of his life plan; we can't expect this to be true of ours.
As
the common saying goes, if something seems too good to be true, it very likely
is not, whether it's a "solution" for an immigration problem or an
international dilemma like ISIS. Hope demands more than wishing or commanding.
Hope's power is unleashed when a community of seekers decides to turn from
skepticism, join hands in faith, and walk forward through the chaos in shared
wisdom, strength, and courage. Maybe Lent is a good time to examine how often
skepticism slips into our thinking and nudges out the labor-intensive hope that
wants to reside there.
Sr. Colleen Winston, OSB
Dr. Kingsley did not object when the accounts were “treated openly as
legends and myths”, but found them “dangerous enough, when they stand side by
side with stories told in earnest, like that of St. Walburga.” He considered
the stories of miracles attributed to Walburg’s oil “sheer Popery, sapping the
very foundation of historic truth” and “stuff and nonsense…I really must
recollect that my readers and I are living in the nineteenth century.” 
