When Our Hope Feels Fragile | A Virtual Pilgrimage of Incarnation Reflections for Advent - Week 3

Paula concludes her Advent reflections on grief and suffering, inviting us to discover a deeper kind of hope — not in outcomes or expectations, but in Jesus, the light who walks with us through darkness and stays when answers do not come.

Join this virtual Advent pilgrimage: htoh.us/advent

Learn More
Heart to Heart, a Catholic Media Ministry: htoh.us
420 W County Line Rd, Suite 200
Barrington, IL 60010

Submit a prayer request: htoh.us/prayers

Support our ministry with a financial gift: htoh.us/donate

Transcript

Jesus, hope of the world.
Jesus, light in our darkness.
Here we await you, O Master divine.
Here we receive you in bread and in wine.
Jesus, hope of the world.

Advent greetings to all.

When we are in the midst of grief, loss, and suffering, the concept of hope — and having hope — can be very difficult. If a loved one is not going to get better, or if a relationship is not going to be mended, hoping for something doesn’t really seem to make sense.

When I went to my spiritual director with this, in the midst of grief, she suggested that I not hope for things in the sense of expectation. Instead, she invited me to hope in — hoping in the fact that people would come around me to help hold me up, hoping in the fact that a good and generous God is with me, and hoping in the fact that the days will get longer.

That made so much sense to me and really changed the way that I approached prayer too.

We are almost at Christmas and our hope is Jesus — who is the hope of the world — who brings light to our darkness. At the end of the song we hear the prayer, “Even so, Lord Jesus, quickly come and night shall be no more, they need no light nor lamp nor sun for Christ will be their all."

There is a traditional Irish blessing that says:

"May you see God's light on the path ahead. When the road you walk is dark. May you always hear, even in your hour of sorrow. The gentle singing of a lark. When times are hard. May hardness never turn your heart to stone. May you always remember. When the shadows fall. You do not walk alone."

Suffering, pain, and loss in life can force change, for our lives are different and the very ground beneath us has shifted. In that shift, can we trust the One who is with us? Emmanuel — God who came to earth. Jesus, who knew joy and friendship and also horrible suffering.

This God-man who cries with us, who walks with us through raging fires, who steadies our unsteady feet, and guides us to new ground,  supports us, holds us up, gives us hope, and loves us all the way.

Jesus said, “Blessed are you who mourn, for one day you will laugh.”

When all else fails, when we don’t have answers to our whys, when dark days turn into months and possibly years, there is our God — who is light in the darkness and hope for our world.

Merciful and loving God, you tell us that those who are weary will find rest, and those who hunger will be filled. You are the light in our darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.

Amen.

And when Christmas arrives — Christmas blessings to you all.