In dark times we are encouraged to look for the harbingers of Light, which are always present (John 1:5)! In dark times we are told that ‘where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.’ In dark times a spiritual teacher like Cynthia Bourgeault can speak into the gloom,
“We believe in the God of mercy, not the god of outcomes.”
In dark times, full of lament and grief, a deep truth arises:
For as the heavens reach beyond earth and time, we swim in mercy as an endless sea (Psalm 103).
In dark times what does it mean to have hope?
Indeed, a cosmic hope assures that God’s mercy is everywhere and ever-present, i.e. there is no place in the universe that God is not. How to live inside this mercy, especially in hard times, is the constant invitation of the spiritual journey.
I have come to understand that this Mercy is present and active in the universe, but I haven’t always understood that the hope it imbues is larger than a feeling, or something we see, but rather something we do! Hope is something to be practiced! In her poignant book, The First Advent in Palestine, Kelley Nikondeha quotes Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Christian pastor and resident of Bethlehem, as he reflects on the meaning of hope while living under illegal occupation:
“Holding to a hopeful vision in the context of war gives hope a new meaning. It is no longer something we see but rather something we practice, something we live, something we advocate, something we plant.” ¹ (emphasis added)
Nikondeha is under no illusion that hope is anything but hard borne and resilient. She goes on to encourage how we might practice such hope in hard times through some of the tools given in that first advent in Palestine: hospitality, solidarity and non-violence. ² I am consoled and encouraged because these are things I can actually practice, and in the practicing, comes proficiency…and hope! Bourgeault concurs when she writes,
“Things like resilience, forgiveness, trust, commitment are not the fruits of hope but the wellsprings of it and the route by which we must ultimately travel to find our way back to the fountainhead.” ³
Practicing hope is a communal activity; we need company and courage. In the RNDM Canadian province, we have committed ourselves to building new relationships with the Indigenous peoples of this land. Impelled by the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, ⁴ we want to be transformed into women whose presence speaks of God’s hope and mercy—for the whole Earth community. This effort of relationship-building is a work of continued hope, each connection of healing an act of resistance in the face of our fragmented reality today.
A spiritual truth attributed to St. Vincent de Paul says:
if God is the center of your life, no words are necessary. Your mere presence will touch hearts.
This is the kind of abiding presence that nurtures hope!
¹ Mitri Raheb, Bethlehem Besieged: Stories of Hope in Times of Trouble (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2004), 157 in Kelley Nikondeha, The First Advent in Palestine – Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2022), 186.
² Ibid.,186.
³ Cynthia Bourgeault, Introduction to Mystical Hope Today (online program at Spirituality and Practice, Resources for Spiritual Journeys, 2023; https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ )
⁴ https://nctr.ca/about/history-of-the-trc/truth-and-reconciliation- commission-of-canada/
Sandra Stewart is a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions in Winnipeg. Originally from Windsor, ON she has spent most of her religious life in Manitoba but has also served in France, Senegal and Papua New Guinea. She holds a Masters degree in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University in Chicago, majoring in spiritual accompaniment from the Institute for Spiritual Leadership.
Presently she serves as a spiritual director, a facilitator of Centering Prayer workshops, and an advocate for social and environmental justice.
Sandra currently serves on her community’s province leadership team in Canada.
Thank you, Sandy! You make me see that hope resides just in my being present to it!