Saturday 21 September 2013

Colloquial Hope and NL_RC



Freyr has asked the other members of WITNESS to write a blog post about what gives us hope.  From a colloquial point of view these things definitely give me hope for the world and those who live in it.  They may not correspond with the theological definition of hope, but when he asked us to contemplate these things this is what came to mind.

To start, it’s the people around me that give me hope.  Or, more precisely, their actions and desires that give me hope. I see a lot of things around me that attest to the teachings of the church about how we were created. Even those who get things drastically wrong can act as the face of our Lord in showing us love and justice.

In terms of love, even those in eccentric or sinful love arrangements seem to possess a genuine desire to love and to be loved.  It is quite common to see in even Hollywood movies (which generally show disastrous examples of loving relationships) a deep-seated and apparently real desire for love.  The teachings of Holy Mother Church are almost always denied, but the desire to love is not ever denied, even in the face of sin and vice.  It is always assumed that, deep down, love is a good to be pursued.

Also, in the area of morality we see that the same desire for justice is deep seated within us.  Take, for example, the actions of radical environmentalists.  I do not condone either their beliefs or their actions, but these people strongly believe and act according to their sense of right and wrong.
Both of the above things resonate strongly with me; love is obviously a very important thing for Catholics as we know God’s love for us, and we are to love each other.  Also, the cardinal virtue of justice, though deformed in so many of us, is still very much a part of those whose actions can be quite disturbing.

From these things, I take great hope, as well as faith that we are created as children of God and in accordance with the teachings of the Church.  Let us pray that those who live according to disordered ideals and inclinations may see the error of their ways and reshape their lives to follow the will of God!

2 comments:

Barona said...

A really thought provoking post. It helps remind us to why so many brothers and sisters are struggling.... hopefully towards a lived and vibrant faith; which is dead without good works. Yet, good works avails nothing without faith.

Freyr said...

Thank you for posting this. Take a look at The Mystery of Mercy posted above. It also was a source of great hope for me. It taught me there was someone out there who could touch me.