29 July 2016 - words of hope

[ Today's Readings ]

Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.

Faith can be a consolation even in times of great sorrow.

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.

During sadness and suffering what do we even now know? Do we still remember the power of God even at such times?

We need to be able to hear the prophets of the LORD even when part of what they're saying is a call to repentance. Even when they're telling us about suffering that we must endure we must not try to silence them.

When Jeremiah finished speaking
all that the LORD bade him speak to all the people,
the priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying,
“You must be put to death! 

Sometimes the desolation is so great that it is hard to listen for hope. But God is always speaking hope. Even when he says the city shall be desolate and deserted he says it so that we can listen and turn back from our evil ways so that he doesn't have to do it.

When we lose a loved one it can be so crushing as to make hope difficult. We need to be like Martha. She doesn't just stay at home. She goes out to meet Jesus as he comes to her. She still believes and hopes in the resurrection.

Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”

For Martha there is a more specific hope the LORD wants to give her than the general resurrection at the end of time..

Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”

And Martha is able to hear it. She is able to listen for the hope God offers even amidst her sorrow.

She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

Let us learn to hear the hope God is speaking to us even in the hardest and most difficult of moments.

But I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.