HOPEFUL BEYOND CONSOLATIONS

V/​ I will turn to you O God, 

R/​ to God who gives joy to my youth

V/​ Give me the Wisdom that sits by your throne; 

R/ that I may be counted among your children

Lord, in your all-providential plan, you have led me to this moment to rediscover me in your Word and Wisdom. Aid me to make this time of meditation and prayer enriching, transforming, and liberating for my well-being and others. Amen!

HOPEFUL BEYOND CONSOLATIONS

By Lucinda M. Vardey

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Wisdom 18: 6-9; Psalm 33:12-22; Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-16; Luke 12: 32-46

Sunday 10th August 2025

Recently, I met a woman who told me how she was called to begin a charity in Ukraine. Two episodes were tantamount to her decision. The first was when she encountered a neatly-dressed woman begging by the side of the road, who embraced her after she gave her a donation. The second was when a colleague in her office in Canada brought in samples of expensive bathroom tiles, she wanted to install in her home, and asked for her opinion. “I immediately knew I had to turn my full attention to the greater need,” she said, ”And that was what brought purpose and consoling meaning to my life.”

  In the Isaiah reading, the directive to “wash yourselves clean” and “seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan and plead for the widow” is clear. The woman’s story of choosing a course of charitable action for her life shows that such decisions carry major consequences.

The whole of this Sunday’s scripture is full of that message, that if we are willing and obedient to God’s commands, then we will eat; if we refuse and rebel, we are instead devoured by the sword. In other words, by refusing and rebelling, we open ourselves to interminable violence. Such violence can be subtle. It could, as theologian, priest and peace activist John Dear claims, “being violent towards oneself, through living with addictions, hatred, procrastination, revengeful thoughts, judgements”, and so on.  By hoping in God, we deepen faith, as Paul teaches in his Letter to the Hebrews, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” What are these things we hope for and believe in?

As we journey through this year’s Jubilee – “Pilgrims of Hope” – it is perhaps good to be reminded that hope is central to Christian life, sitting between faith and charity. We can understand this trinity of virtues to mean that we need faith in order to hope, and hope in order to be loving and charitable.

  Jesus’ teaching in Luke’s Gospel illustrates hope in action. Blessed the servant found alert and prayerful, doing what the Master expects while the Master is away. Two exemplars of this type of hope in action are Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Thérèse of Lisieux. Mother Teresa spent much of her adult life tirelessly and cheerfully serving “Jesus in his distressing disguise” in the poorest of the poor. Members of her missionary community were oblivious to the fact that she suffered spiritual dryness for years and was devoid of any Divine consolation. This did not deter her to hope that what she was called to do was what Jesus required of her.

  Thérèse of Lisieux’s everyday sacrifices in the convent were also not perceived by her community. Her example of cheerfulness in the face of hardships and challenges to her charity is exemplary in the practice of hope and love in the little everyday things. These two women have a shared legacy. Mother Teresa chose her religious name after Thérèse, and taught her sisters, priests and volunteers to do the small everyday things with great love. Both women have been canonised, and one is a Doctor of the Church. Their faith, hope, love, and trust in what Jesus promised brought their lives and their spirituality to the larger world. Their Master had indeed put them in charge of his possessions.