Despair is never the end ...

DESPAIR AS THE BEGINNING OF HOPE
Lk. 21:25-28, 34-36

Today's Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Advent might seem an odd choice.  Advent is traditionally a season of hope, anticipation, and preparation for Christ's coming - culminating in the joyous celebration of Christmas.  In just a few weeks, we’ll exchange greetings of "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," and the atmosphere will grow increasingly festive.  Yet today, we hear about nations in anguish and people dying of fright.

Could this reading be misplaced?  At first glance, it seems ill-suited to a time of hopeful expectation.  Shouldn’t Advent lift our spirits rather than weigh them down with images of fear, chaos, and despair?  But Advent is precisely about hope, and hope often emerges from the most difficult situations.  It is in the darkest moments of history - and of our lives - that genuine hope is born.

Despair and hope are opposites, but despair can also be the seedbed of hope.  Throughout history, hope has often arisen from the depths of despair.  The hope of democracy grew out of the tyranny of oppressive monarchies.  The hope of modern medicine was born of suffering through devastating plagues.  The hope of universal education emerged from the despair of ignorance.  Even the fragile hope of world peace arose from the horrors of war.

This is the essence of today’s Gospel.  Jesus does not shy away from life’s harsh realities.  He describes a world in turmoil and fear, but He doesn’t leave us there.  He says: “When these things begin to happen, stand up straight and raise your heads, for your redemption is at hand.”  His words remind us that true hope is not mere optimism or wishful thinking.  It is a defiant confidence in God's promise, even when everything around us feels hopeless.

This message is profoundly relevant to us today.  Consider the moral and ethical despair that grips our world.  Crime and corruption are rampant.  Governments are destabilized by greed and violence.  Diseases, some spread through lifestyles at odds with God’s law, threaten our health and security.  Even places of learning and worship are not immune to violence.  It is tempting to feel overwhelmed, to see no way forward.

Yet Jesus calls us to a different perspective: “Stand up straight and raise your heads.”  This is not a call to ignore the seriousness of our problems.  It is an invitation to face despair honestly and allow it to transform us into instruments of hope.

Advent is a time to rediscover the teachings of Christ as the foundation of true hope.   “Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus tells us. This is not a sentimental ideal but a survival strategy for a fractured world.  St. Paul reminds us: “Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no” - a call to integrity in a society that thrives on dishonesty.  And St. Peter proclaims: “There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven by which we are saved” (Acts 4:12).  Christ is not one hope among many; He is our only hope.

Perhaps, then, today’s Gospel is not so strange a choice for Advent.  It challenges us to confront despair, not to be consumed by it, but to see in it the birth of hope.  The world’s anguish reminds us how much we need a Saviour.

Lord Jesus, Your words at the beginning of this season are indeed fitting.  They reveal how desperately our world needs You.  Lift us from despair and fill us with the hope that only You can give.

PLEASE VISIT MY WEBSITE: https://fatherfrancismaple.co.uk