– by Kaka Lucas 8th April 2021
Hope is Bitter but Better
– By Kaka Lucas
A lot of things are going on at the same time. Master mine is covid19, lockdown, depression, poverty, violence and the chain goes unending. I feel tired, exhausted sometime depressed and other time I am at the edge of my life. what to do but to try memorise scriptures that give me home and stories of saints like Pio who reminds me, Pray, Hope and Don’t worry. Listening Bob Marley reminding the world, “Every little thing is gonna be alright.” It turns to be even had when you face people who care less to what you may be undergoing during this hard times and they are there forcing their way into your already minimised circle. This makes hope hopeless and even bitterer than cerassee herbs.
During these tough time in the world, many of us are in dark moments. Just as I did, you may have had 5 years plans to accomplish this or that. With covid19 hit in different waves each month these plans are scrabbling down one by one. These are dark moments in the world but it turns even darker when you have to face people who make it so dark than its already dark, then you wonder, should I keep hopping things will be better?
Let me call it Total Darkness! Everyone has it, and it comes in different forms and faces, people and moments, incidents and situations, manmade and God-made. Who knows!
Sometimes we get so used to these times that we become indifferent to them, and other times the world seems so dark that it seems impossible that it could go at all. It feels so hard that one more step would lead you to through away the towel. But boom! After darkness comes light, light that during the dawn may not be seen as yet – like Lent and Advent, darkness leads us to a season of true hope when the light shines bright and beautiful.
I feel so hopeless that I wonder, where does hope belong in such a dark time in the world, in our countries, in our society, in our families and now within us…Tell me. It is easy to assume that darkness is the enemy of hope, definitely…….but nooo, in reality, hope belongs in darkness. It belongs in pain, sadness, disappointment, anxiety, shame and rejection; that is where hope grows and flourish. That is why Padre Pio said, Hope Pray and Don’t worry. During the dark time, we hope even in that dark tunnel, we pray and communicate with God, and since we know He is the boss, then we don’t worry…hehehehehehe.
The catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that the virtue of hope takes our innate desires for happiness and “purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven” (CCC1818) By His grace, our disappointment with this broken worlds becomes a longing for God that brings us home.
Hope is bitter, it can be harsh reality. It is so dark that killing and violence in our society has become common news. Men and women we have given into addictions of all kind, drugs or pornography have taken the paramount. If not addiction Netflix or getting caught up in a fantasy world just to forget what’s happening now and avoid the real life.
The problem, though, is that if we choose escapism over hope, then we’re directing our happiness toward worldly things and denying this virtue of hope that God wants to give us. True hope requires that we put all our happiness in heaven and that we entrust everything to our Father without settling for anyone or anything less.
Fighting hope is easy. Because hope has always been a difficult concept for me, and a big part of that was the way I heard it talked about, like it was easy, like it was the same as being happy, like it felt good. In my experience, hope is beautiful, but it’s not comfortable. When I wake up already knowing nothing about when I will be ‘laid hand on’ when I will I make the next move or even when I will visit my mother. It turns hope to the darkest time of my life, and here I be against hope.
In Romans 4:19-21, Pauls brings to us Abraham’s trust in God, “He did not doubt, although his body could no longer give life, he was about a hundred years old and, inspite of his wife, Sarah being unable to have children. He did not doubt, nor did he distrust the promise of God, and, by being strong in faith, he gave glory to God: he was convinced that, He who had given the promise, had power to fulfil.”
Just a moment of reading this scripture verse I let go of the idea of hope as sweet as honey experience and instead consider Abraham fighting to give glory to God when all the facts were against him, I now see hope everywhere.
You know what, sometime hope isn’t so far away if we look attentively. By spending the day taking care of yourself because you know your worth even it doesn’t feel like it.
That moment that you pick up a rosary or open the Bible when God feels miles away, because that is when prayer is needed.
And other time Hope is just laying down at the end of a long or short day with nothing left and praying, “Jesus I trust in You.”
Hope doesn’t usually make the news as other virtues may; often, it isn’t spectacular or shocking or even pretty. Instead, it’s covered in sweat, stinking sweat and tears, very bitter tears and endlessly making room for Jesus. Hope is the one preparing the manger even when she can’t see Jesus coming. That is hope.
We all know and no one should be waiting to be told how bright lighted the world is. The world can be dark place. But even in its darkness, our fast task before taking microphone to preach or taking tools to fight, our fast responsibility is to make a room for Jesus. He does not need a mansion, just a small room within you. the second responsibility is to look into the darkness within ourselves and not be discouraged, but prepare a place for Him awaiting the day when He makes even the most broken into something beautiful.
I’ve come to realize that the Light of the world didn’t come to bring light to light; He came to bring light to darkness. So when the darkness invades—whether it’s sin or shame or suffering—I can only be encouraged that the darker the place, the brighter the Light will shine, if only I place my hope in Him alone.
In hope, we already have salvation. But, if we saw what we hoped for, there would no longer be hope; how can you hope for what you already have? So, we hope for what we do not see, and we will receive it, through patient hope” Romans 8:28-25,28.
JLucas (ONE LOVE ONE HEART) 
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