Today we share in St. Paul's outburst of joy in you, O God our loving Father when he claimed "the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us" (Rom. 8:18). Like Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, we are absorbed in the reflection of St. Paul about hope:
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that see for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.
Romans 8:24-25
So true, indeed, loving Father: we hope because while we do not see, we still believe and we have faith in you through Jesus Christ your Son and our Lord; teach us to grow deeper in our hope in you not just as a feeling or a desire nor a wait-and-see attitude but more as a conviction in Christ that when worst comes to worst, we hold on to you because only you will remain even in the end, loving us, believing in us, transforming us.
Let us persevere in Christ with our commitments no matter how hard and even painful specially in this time of pandemic and in moments of severe trials and tribulations when people fail us; like the mustard seed that grows into a leafy plant providing branches for birds and yeast that leavens a dough, let us be surprised with your grace of hope, Lord, by enabling us to see light even in darkness, life even in sickness and death because to truly hope is to trust and believe in you alone, O God, who is our very life. Amen.
