A few days after the last Haitian earthquake, the hospital ship HOPE sailed into Port-au-Prince harbor. With its huge red cross, and the word HOPE splashed across its bow, everyone in the harbor cheered for they knew help was near. They now had HOPE. Hope is an important Christian virtue. Why? Well, when God decided to make us His friends a long time ago, God decided then never to abandon us. Hope is that promise that God is always near. And to this day God still stays faithful to us with the hope we will do the same to Him.
Hope is God’s faithfulness to this dream. Even though we are as tiny as a drop of water in the ocean, God knows the ocean is less an ocean when our drop of water is missing. God wants and waits for every drop. Now that’s faithfulness. And that’s why we are people of Hope. When we know God is always with us, sharing our highs and lows, how can we not be hope-filled? How can we not want to tell others how wonderfully faithful God is? When we believe this about our God, we become signs of hope for others.
Like the hospital ship bringing HOPE to the Haitians, we too bring Hope to those we meet on our journey. And when we become signs of hope, hope lasts.
Alice visits her mom in intensive care. She holds her mother’s hand and talks to her. Just those daily visits ,with little said, is the hope Alice’s Mother needs. When she sees Alice, she knows help has come. When we decide to be a sign of hope, hope glistens.
On their wedding day, Sean and Lucia exchange vows: “I will be true to you in good times and in the bad”. They speak their vows in hope, because the vows are about a future unseen. But they believe that with God’s help they will keep these vows. Their faithfulness will be signs for one another.
Marcus , a student at Nativity Preparatory, a tuition free middle school, provides him with a first rate education. Marcus ,and all his inner city classmates, have hope in a brighter future. Nativity Prep is a sign of hope for Marcus that he can break the cycle of poverty in his life.
Hope needs to be spread for even Jesus hoped. At the Last Supper and before His death, Jesus spoke of hope and the future. He gave his disciples a sign, bread and wine. Then he said “this is my body and blood” and when you “do this in memory of me” I will be there.
Hope is contagious , so when we are hope-filled, we can easily attract others. Hope opens endless possibilities which we only know exist after we begin hoping. Today choose to be a sign of Hope and live today well!