384th Meditation
“I wish to be the hope of humanity. Am I not already? Man would be lost if I were not his hope” (Father’s message to Sr. Eugenia Ravasio).
Especially in these times of such darkness, our Father’s words point the way. He has pronounced them once and for all, and He wants us to assimilate them deeply.
In how many situations there seems to be no way out! However, if we raise our eyes to God and offer Him our innermost being, there is no hopeless situation. Then a ray of His light will penetrate our hearts and we will not allow ourselves to be clouded by despair.
Hope is not just a vague feeling, as perhaps we sometimes consider it to be, when, after having listed all the negative and problematic aspects of a situation, we perhaps end up saying that “the last thing to lose is hope”. But this is often not a convincing statement that lifts our hearts.
The hope to which Heavenly Father invites us is rooted in the constant connection with Him, which is to permeate all areas of life. Just as love and faith should not only be present at certain moments, but should shape our whole life, so too should the theological virtue of hope.
Hope enables us to detach us from ourselves and focus on the Father. If we remain vigilant, hope will not allow us to despair or give up in the face of a situation that seems to have no way out. Always united to love and faith, hope exerts its influence on our soul, lifting it up and causing it, even in the darkness of not understanding, to cling to the Father, before whom all is unveiled and who knows the way that will serve our good.
Therefore, it is not only a matter of not losing hope in certain situations, but of making it the constant certainty of our life, and not only in relation to our personal life, but to all the situations of human history.