Jesus Our Hope

Here is the next part of the retreat day I gave this past fall in Grand Forks...
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I’m guessing the most of you have heard of Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch woman of faith who survived the Nazi concentration camps.  She was working with young man in underground with her family to save Jewish babies at orphanage.  He declared: “There is no greater work to be done in this whole world than saving people’s lives.”
 
Corrie gently corrected him, explaining that there was one greater task: saving people’s souls.
She clarified that sharing this message is our most important work and shared about the gift of faith in Jesus and salvation.  At the time, the young man couldn’t understand the significance of Corrie’s words.
 
Some months later, he was imprisoned for his work; he and all those with him would be executed by the end of the week.  He told his friends about Jesus and gave them hope. Many turned to Our Lord, inspired by his words. This man wrote a long letter to Corrie just before he died, stating that now he understood the greatest work a person could do is tell others about Christ to help them toward salvation.  Sadly, they were all executed as scheduled.
 
Though we’ve not faced the horrors of the Second World War, I think we’ve all had some really tough times.  What gets us through them?  It’s not telling ourselves that it’s not so bad – but clinging to Jesus and hoping in Him.

It was during one such time, a few years ago, when my mom told me about prayers of surrender.  I had heard about it but never gotten too much into it.  Honestly, I was at a point where I really didn’t want to hear about it; but, I tried it anyway and it’s been a part of my life since. 

Corrie reminds us to “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”  Pope Francis had shared a similar idea in his pre-Jubilee writings.  He also stated his desire for each of us to individually meet Jesus: “For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the “door” of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as our hope.”
 
The Holy Father further shared that Paul reminded people that, before coming to Jesus, they were “without hope and without God in the world.” The distinguishing mark of Christians the fact that they have a future.  Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well, as Pope Francis reflected.
 
Pope Benedict, in his document, Spe Salve, told us that “Christian hope is grounded in the Lord himself who died and rose for us. As his followers we trust in his promises, especially the gift of the Holy Spirit, striving each day to live in a manner worthy of our calling. Hope is born of love and based on the love springing from the pierced heart of Jesus upon the cross: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Rom 5:19).”
 
St. Faustina, in her diary, gives great inspiration to our hope as she tells of Jesus’ great mercy for sinners.  As you probably have heard, these revelations urge us of the importance of turning to Him with trust. 
 
I would like to turn back, now to our hope in Jesus and His resurrection…
 
How many of you have learned about the Shroud of Turin?  It’s pretty amazing!
 
From it we learn about the resurrection.  Science in recent years has pointed, more and more, to its authenticity. It seems that intense light and ultraviolet radiation caused the image to be made on the material, as Jesus’ Body came to life and was glorified.  According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the resurrected body has four characteristics: impassibility, subtleness, agility, and clarity.  That is, immune to harm, able to pass through walls, moving with ease wherever you please, and bright-shining from the soul’s glory.
 
Can you imagine what it must have been like for those first disciples when they saw Jesus risen and glorified?  Yet, if we are faithful, we too, one day, will experience His glory and our bodies will rise like His. 
 
Do you know the story of Paul and Silas in prison? (Acts 16:25ff)?  The event took place about 15 years after resurrection.  They were singing hymns and praying around midnight when there was a big earthquake.  The jail shook, the doors came open, and their chains were loosed.
 
Do you remember how the jailor thought they had escaped and was about to kill himself?  He knew what would be coming to him if he was found to have let prisoners escape.  Paul stopped him and shared “the reason for his hope.”  The guard provided a meal, and took care of their wounds, after asking what he needed to do to be saved.  His whole household became followers of Jesus, inspired by the hope of those men. 
 
I would like to close this section with words from the collects, the opening prayers from two different liturgical feasts (solemnities, really):
 
Good Shepherd Sunday: Almighty ever-living God, lead us to a share in the joys of heaven, so that the humble flock may reach where the brave Shepherd has gone before. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
 
Ascension: Gladden us with holy joys, almighty God, and make us rejoice with devout thanks-giving, for the Ascension of Christ your Son is our exaltation, and, where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.