It's the darkest time of the year in more ways than one. The sun sets ever earlier, plunging us into darkness as early as 5 p.m. The weather and foliage turn bleak. Our nation emerges from a contentious election season. All this is on top of our own personal and communal difficulties, sufferings and challenges.
At a time like this, it might seem easy to despair, to lose hope.
But the Lord Jesus comes anew in our hearts, communities, Church and world at this time of the year. The celebration of the birth of Emmanuel, God-with-us, at the very darkest point of the year is by no means accidental; it is a poignant reminder of the presence of the Light of the World among us, even amid the darkness.
'Hope does not disappoint'
More than a fleeting feeling of inspiration, the theological virtue of hope delves deeper.
First and foremost, the virtue of hope comes from God and stirs a desire in our hearts for “the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life as our happiness” (CCC 1817). With the Holy Spirit’s inspiration and grace, we can “[place] our trust in God’s promises, [rely] not on our own strength,” and respond to the “aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man” (CCC 1817-1818).
This virtue, a gift from God, allows mankind to view life differently, the Catechism of the Catholic Church continues: “It keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity” (1818).
In short, the theological virtue of hope helps us fix our eyes on the things that are above, to store up treasures in Heaven (cf. Col 3:2; Mt 6:19-21).
“I think a really simple way to boil that down is that hope is the reality that Heaven is our home and God is faithful to his promises,” said Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, a religious sister with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity known for her speaking, her participation in the Abiding Together podcast and her work with the John Paul II Healing Center. “We are pilgrims on this journey; this earth as we now live it is not our home. One day, there will be new heavens and a new earth. The best of what we find here are just mere specks of what is awaiting us in the complete and total consummation with God forever for all eternity, which is Heaven.
“I think, a lot of times, when we speak about hope, we often use it as synonymous with wishful thinking,” Sr. Heidland continued. Quite the contrary, hope changes everything, she said, pointing to Pope Benedict XVI’s famous line in Spe Salvi: “One who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life” (2).
“What the theological virtue of hope does is it orders our hearts toward Heaven, toward what is eternal. So in moments in our lives when you and I experience uncertainty, we can turn to the Lord and say, ‘Lord, you said that you’d be with me always, until the end of time. You said that you would make all things new. Right now, it doesn’t feel like it, or I can’t see that. But I’m going to place my hope in you.’ Because as St. Paul says, 'Hope does not disappoint' (Rm 5:5) because it’s based in Christ. So that truly anchors us more than just a passing feeling. Because of who Christ reveals himself to be, we can place our trust in him,” Sr. Heidland shared.
The Christmas story is a perfect reminder to renew our hope in Christ, Sr. Heidland added. At the very darkest point of the year, the Light of the World comes anew to call our attention away from the darkness of our own “sorrowful mysteries,” those challenges, difficulties, sufferings and wounds in our own lives, toward him in whom we can place our hope.
“We see in Christ not just a distant model or a distant kind of figurehead, but somebody who literally takes on our flesh and even takes on our sin and reunites us into communion with family — because the Trinity is a family. So it encapsulates everything that our hearts ache for: communion, belonging, longing, restoration, forgiveness, redemption, triumph over darkness,” she explained. “Hope springs eternal, and every single one of us has a deep ache for a love that never ends, for a love that heals, for a love that blesses, for a love that forgives, for a love that is unconditional. And because you’re made in the image and likeness of God, we’re made in, by and for that love, and that’s why we ache for it.”
"Hope is the reality that Heaven is our home and God is faithful to his promises." Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT
A Light of Healing in the Darkness of Despair
Flowing from our dignity as beloved sons and daughters of God and from that inherent longing for the things of God, for "the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life" (CCC 1817), is a longing that God intends to fulfill in each of us in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But it’s all too easy to lose sight of that hope-filled destiny, to veer off the “narrow road,” and to lose ourselves in our brokenness, sin and despair.
“You and I have a lot of impediments from concupiscence, from original sin, but also from our sorrowful mysteries in life,” Sr. Heidland said. “We have very profound beliefs that we formed out of our sorrowful mysteries that often frame our whole concept of what it means to be human, who God is and how it is that we love. And Jesus comes with his love and his truth to heal those places. His love heals the wounds, and his Truth heals the lies we believe about ourselves, others and God. And he’s bringing us into the fullness of who we truly are.”
The coming of Christ at Christmas — his taking on human flesh and entering into the human condition, with all of its messiness — should be a source of great hope for Catholic Christians striving to walk the “narrow road” to salvation.
By becoming man, Jesus became like us in all things but sin and taught us to be truly human. His Incarnation made God accessible to his people in a new, profound way. Through Jesus, we can come to the Father; by coming to the Father, we find fullness, healing, truth, beauty and goodness.
“When we speak about healing at the John Paul II Healing Center, we talk about a beautiful definition that Dr. Bob Schuchts will always give: ‘Healing is an ongoing encounter with God’s love and truth that brings us into wholeness and communion,’” Sr. Heidland added, highlighting God’s desire to bring his love and truth to those places of rejection, abandonment, fear and shame in our hearts. “When we allow those places to be uncovered over time and in all the ways that Jesus does, we find that he’s actually there, his love is there, his communion is there, his kindness is there. And from the moment of our existence, we’ve never been spiritually alone. We may have been physically alone in different ways, but we’ve never been spiritually alone from the very first moment we were created in our mothers’ wombs.”
That intimacy with the Lord is a source of great hope, Sr. Heidland continued, because it shows us that everything doesn’t fall on us; God is Emmanuel, with us.
“I’m not left to figure this out by myself, to make myself loveable, just and righteous. It’s actually opening my heart to Christ and allowing him to reveal who I truly am and allowing him to bring me more deeply into that wholeness and communion so that I begin to live out my deepest destiny that God has for me, which is eternal communion with him forever with all the saints for all eternity,” she said.
"Jesus is not indifferent to us, and he's not waiting for us to get ourselves together so he can help us. He just absolutely loves us...He is not afraid of us. He is with us, and that love heals all things." Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT
Our Response to Emmanuel, God-with-us
While the fullness of hope, healing and fulfillment might await us in Heaven, we are not excused from action today and at every moment, Sr. Heidland said. Because Jesus became man and united himself to us so powerfully, all of these things begin even now, here on earth.
“That journey of restoration begins now, and the fullness of it takes place in Heaven. But it begins now. You and I don’t have to spend the rest of our lives — no matter where we are right now — in our coping mechanisms or our most difficult parts, in our avoidance or a victim identity. That restoration of love and truth begins right now, and it continues,” Sr. Heidland said. “I think we can have a faulty understanding of that. Is that just for Heaven? Am I just going to get through it? Am I just going to suck it up? I just don't see Jesus living like that. Jesus does really hard things, but he does them with great joy and love, even in the most difficult places. You see him in distress; you see him weeping. You see him angry at people, their hardness of heart or cleansing the temple. But in that, he’s always experiencing relationship with the Father.
“We have to be very honest that this is not some sort of Pollyanna kind of worldview or a diminishment of suffering or our sorrowful mysteries,” Sr. Heidland continued. “It’s actually very honestly encountering these places and, in them, encountering Christ and many times choosing to believe what God tells us about himself, even though we don’t experience it ourselves, choosing to believe that Heaven is our home and that God is faithful to his promises.”
As the Church celebrates the coming of Christ as a child and as she kicks off the Jubilee Year of Hope, there is no better time to develop the muscle of hope in each of our lives by working to choose it, even when circumstances make that choice difficult, Sr. Heidland said.
“As we look at Jesus, we’re just stunned and captivated by him. Who loves us like this? Who would take on our sin and suffering? Who would want to be so closely united to us as Christ? He’s just so gorgeous. He’s so stunning. We don’t have to conjure up anything; I don’t have to conjure up hope or virtue. We can ask the Lord, ‘Open my heart and help me to respond to your divine love. Stir up the gift of hope in my heart. Help me to respond to what you’re already doing in my life,” Sr. Heidland shared. “It’s not up to us to begin that process, but love always requires a response.”
Jesus' Reason this Season is YOU!
Each Advent and Christmas season, Jesus’ becoming man brings great hope and joy. His reason during this season is you, dear reader. Jesus became man out of love for you, to save you and to bring you into relationship with him — now and for eternity, in Heaven.
In short, the resounding truth of the joyful, hope-filled Christmas message is that you matter to God.
"We are so deeply loved — it just makes me cry — we are so deeply loved and so precious to him," Sr. Heidland concluded, tears in her eyes. "What matters to us matters to him. Jesus is not indifferent to us, and he's not waiting for us to get ourselves together so he can help us. He just absolutely loves us. That's what happens in Advent: the revelation of the love of a family, of vulnerability, littleness and poverty, the love of our little places that he is not afraid of. He is not afraid of us. He is not afraid of us. He is with us, and that love heals all things."
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