“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”
~ Anne Lamott
Hope can be a fickle thing. As humans, we put a lot of stock in hope. We hope for good grades, we hope for good friends, we hope for good jobs, we hope for good futures. We do a lot of hoping. That is one of the things about being human. The other thing about being human is that, many times, our hopes are dashed. We find that what we have put our hope in has disappointed us. There comes a point in everyone’s life where it becomes incredibly difficult to hope.
That was definitely the position of the Israelites circa the time of Isaiah. They had been a people who hoped for the coming of the Messiah. They hoped for deliverance from their enemies. They hoped for a land that they could call their own. They hoped for a future filled with peace and prosperity. And they were coming close to the end of their hope. They had had enough.
Isaiah spoke about many reasons to hope. Today, we consider one of the “O Antiphons” — “O Radiant Dawn”. How many times have poets used the image of the coming dawn? Dawn gives us the impression that the night is coming to an end, that light will defeat the dark. In the light, we will be able to see all things clearly. There will be no reason to be confused. We will be bathed in the light.
There’s a reason we call Jesus the Light of the World. We long for that Light. We wait for that Dawn. We await the glory of God. Do your best to hold firm this day and to nourish your hope. Let not despair defeat you. Wait for the coming Dawn, the Light who is coming into the world!
FAITH ACTION: Pray for all those who, for one reason or another, have given up hope, that they may find it again in the Lord.