Our world is in crisis! No surprise there! We know the litany of world problems: from global warming to the
seeming end of civil discourse; the insidious and malignant damage that continues due to systemic
racism and the continuing battle with individual rights often negating any regard for the common good.
Added this is the uncertainty and isolation that Covid amplified in the lives of so many in our
communities.
Our tendency, amid all of this, is built into our brain chemistry: to fight, flee, or totally disassociate
from the current realities. This is how we naturally address any potential danger or trauma that we
anticipate or have endured. Yet, as faith teaches us, there are times when we must resist those
tendencies to avoid dealing with the trauma in our lives. To not deal with the trauma is to continue to
endure the pain of holding it all in, packing it down inside of our soul, and letting it continue to diminish
our spirit. Not dealing with the trauma will ultimately affect not only our minds but our bodies and
spirit.
This is where this time of year, with the Seasons of Advent and Christmas, that the Catholic Christian
community centers us in 4 key virtues: hope, joy, peace, and love. These seasons – Advent runs from
Nov. 28 th through December 24 th, Christmas Season runs from Dec. 25 th through the Feast of the Baptism
of the Lord on Sunday, January 9 th – invite us into a time of reflection and fortification of these virtues in
our lives, virtues that root us in all that we need to face the chaos of life head-on.
Hope is not the same as optimism. With optimism, we will see signs of positive change. With hope, there
is a trust built into us, as people of deep faith, that God will get us through the crosses and chaos of life
and ultimately lead us to resurrection, the small resurrections we experience after facing the various
crosses that life can deal us, and our ultimate resurrection when the frailty of our physical lives takes us
and God is there to welcome us.
We live in a time where we are waiting for things to change, to become better. Hopeful waiting is our
active expression of faith in a God who created us, loves us, encourages and challenges us, and
accompanies us through the chaos. Our hopeful waiting is not a sitting still or standing on the sidelines
to let life happen. Instead, hopeful waiting is to mirror what God does for us in how we accompany, love,
encourage and compassionately challenge others as they navigate the chaos of life.
God’s invitation in this particular season is to open our hearts, minds, and spirits, as God asked of the
Virgin Mary, to willingly open ourselves to receive the seeds of new possibilities that can germinate into
the eventual birth of new possibilities of living and offering our unique gifts to benefit the world.
There is a wonderful piece of prose written by Julia Esquivel titled “Threatened with Resurrection” as she
reflects on holding hope amidst the constant fear of potential death at the hands of government forces
in El Salvador seeking to extinguish the hopes of the poor for fairness and respect. In the final two
verses, she invites us to ‘join us in this vigil:’
Join us in this vigil and you will know what it is to dream!
Then you will know how marvelous it is to live threatened with Resurrection!To dream awake, to keep watch asleep, to live while dying, and to know ourselves already resurrected!
Written by Father Larry Dowling
Source:
Brethren Press: Threatened With Resurrection: Prayers and Poems from an Exiled Guatemalan; Julia Esquivel; English, Spanish, and Spanish Edition; March 1994
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Jim McDougall’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
First Inset Image Courtesy of Robin’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Second Inset Image Courtesy of Dennis Jarvis’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
