Hope, as Saint Gregory of Narek prays, may look like a feeble thread, but in the hands of Jesus it acquires divine power to pull us out of the dominion of death and darkness toward the life of heavenly love (Prayer 25.2)
We must be very diligent in not letting even the smallest crumb of hope fall off our table of spiritual nourishment. Even the smallest crumb carries the power of eternal life.
Unlike the two disciples returning to Emmaus, we must not cut ourselves loose from this thread of hope. They explained to Jesus why their hearts and souls had fallen prey to sorrow, “We hoped…” they said (Luke 24.21), but now the flame of hope was extinguished in their souls. Judging from the somewhat harsh response of Jesus–“O foolish ones and slow of heart…”–their hearts had stopped beating with life and insight into things divine. Hearts that had ceased pumping the ultimate goal of every human soul, the thoughts, the desires, the empathy, and the union of wills with God, all condensed in “hope.” Hearts disconnected from the fountain of love flowing from our Heavenly Father for the disciples of Jesus.
This Hope is the New Covenant that Jesus established, and it is the foundation on which God built the first oath of salvation, announced to Abraham. Yet humanity’s familiarity with evil wore down our resolve to keep our part, and we became old wineskins incapable of containing the strong wine of God’s love. It is Hope that the Heavenly Father sent to the world in His Only Begotten Son, so that we may find in Him our perfect and complete image and likeness. The Hope that the Sacred Scriptures and the very proclamation of Jesus call our salvation.
This Hope is the heavenly nourishment that makes possible the life of love in our human nature. It is the drop of divine holiness that descends like a refreshing dew upon our souls, sowing there the love of God. Indeed, the very identity of God is Love. Amid the buffeting swells of worldly temptation, Hope is the lighthouse that flashes the route to the heavenly safe haven. Its grace-filled rays mark the paths for each and every child of God and for people of goodwill to find their calling toward the love of God. The voice of Hope is more powerful than the loud noise of temptation; its song is more spellbinding than the promises of evil. The mantle of Hope protects us from the wounds of sin; it is a refuge and a safe zone along the entire length of our journeys toward God, because Hope is the very abundance of God.
We should go to the life-giving mense of Hope and fill our jugs from that abundant spring, and our expectation of God’s rich presence will never be unfulfilled, just as Jesus was at the table with the two disciples drifting away to Emmaus.
