Henry’s Hope

Raising our hopes all the way to heaven

09/14/2017

John 3:13-17 Jesus said to Nicodemus: "No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

              One of the most beautiful virtues on earth, perhaps the most beautiful, is hope. Hope is what gets us out of bed in every morning because we hope it will be a good day filled with blessings. I’ve been watching this virtue of hope reach new heights in our friends, Henry and Linda Udouj. You may know that Henry’s health has been complicated by not only cancer but now also a stroke. He’s in I.C.U. but will soon be moved to hospice. Both Henry and Linda are living the virtue of hope in a new way now: not so much hoping for a return to full health, but a hope for a peaceful passing. That is, their hope has been purified and elevated, that is to say, raised and transformed from earthly hope to heavenly hope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our strength but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1817). Linda and Henry’s hope is now in eternal life, they trust in Christ’s promises, and they rely on the strength of the Holy Spirit rather than their own strength.  The Udouj’s are teaching me how to hope.

               If you want a movie-version of the virtue of hope, I recommend “Shawshank Redemption,” starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. At the beginning of the movie “Red” (played by Freeman) says: “Let me tell you something, my friend, hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It’s got no use on the inside [in prison]; better get used to that idea.” But “Andy” (played by Robbins) refuses to get used to that idea, he refuses to stop hoping. At the end of the movie, after both have gotten out of prison, Andy leaves Red a letter that says: “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping this letter finds you, and finds you well.” In other words, just like Linda and Henry have learned how to hope for heaven, so Andy teaches Red how to kindle hope in his heart. Hope is a good thing.

                 Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Why do we “celebrate” the Cross, which was, after all, an instrument of brutal and inhumane torture and murder in the Roman Empire? What’s so good about it? Why even think about it? It’s simple: the cross of Christ helps us to hope, elevating our hopes from this world to the next. The Cross teaches us not to limit our hopes to this life – like a cure from cancer, or breaking out of jail – but ultimately to hope for heaven. John’s gospel says: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the Cross], so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Notice the upward movement of hope: Jesus is lifted up on the Cross, and our hope is lifted up from earth to heaven. We exalt the Cross because the Cross teaches us how to hope like Henry and Linda and like Red and Andy.

                My friends, take a moment to examine the caliber of your hope today. In other words, how do you hope? Or, do you hope at all? Some people have given up on hope, and like Red, believe that “hope is a dangerous thing and can drive a man insane.” We can lose hope for our marriage, for other people, for our kids, for our future, even for ourselves. We may feel we’re going insane hoping for these things to improve. If that’s the case, we need Jesus’ Cross to teach us how to hope, and “rely not on our strength but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.”  But our education in hope is not over at that point. True hope, pure hope, the theological virtue of hope turns our eyes to heaven. As we exalt the Cross of Christ, may Jesus elevate our hopes all the way to heaven, like Henry and Linda Udouj are doing. The Cross of Christ is the great school of the virtues, and that’s also where we learn how to hope.  “Hope is a good thing, perhaps the best of things.  And no good thing ever dies.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!