On Hope

Yesterday I mentioned my wise theology professor, Keith Egan. In an article entitled "Banishing Anxiety," he wrote the following about hope:

"Hope is a call to choose life and to choose it to the full, to live vibrantly knowing that Jesus Christ did not die in vain. The hope offered by Jesus has roots in the Hebrew scriptures where hope for the messiah was what brought courage to a people who faced impossible odds. Jesus heard the same words from God that we now hear from Isaiah: '...do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.... For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.' (Isa 41: 10, 13) Courage and love are the answers to the anxiety of our times.

"Hope is a gift from God and it is ours to use in the struggle to overcome fear and anxiety. Thomas Aquinas says that hope and love are mutually related. To grow in one is to grow in the other. We have a challenge as followers of Jesus to heed his assurance: 'Fear not, little flock.' This courage and love will make our church and ourselves signs of hope in an age all too prone to let itself be paralyzed by anxiety. It is not so necessary to know all the ins and outs about the causes of anxiety. Rather we best spend our energy letting God replace anxiety with forgiveness, mercy and love. Not some abstract love but a love that stretches me so that I reach out to my neighbor in need. As Teresa of Jesus has written, love of neighbor is a sign of love of God. The kind of love that displaces fear is the nitty gritty, hands in the dirt kind of love that makes no excuses but loves with gusto my neighbor, black or while, Muslim or Jew, rich or poor."