Reflections

by  Jim Ciarico

Hope

One of the reasons that we read the Old Testament during Advent is to learn what to hope for. The people of the Old Testament had the courage to hope for big things. Human Beings cannot live with out hope. Unlike the animals we are blessed with the ability to think about the future and to fear our actions to shaping it. So essential is hope to human life that human beings cannot live without hope, without something to live for, without something to look forward to. To be without hope, to have nothing to live for is to surrender to death in despair. But we can find all sorts of things to live for and we can hope for almost anything: for some measure of success or security or the realization of some more or less modest ambition; for our children, that they might be saved from our mistakes and sufferings and find a better life than we had known; for a better world. Not all forms of hope are selfish; indeed, they have given dignity and purpose to the lives of countless generations. I hope that you have a blessed Advent as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior. “Advent chapter taken from Fr Bens book left in the sacristy”