LET THE HEART THST SEEK THE LORD REJOICE

LET THE HEARTS THAT SEEK THE LORD REJOICE

(TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2019)

Today’s readings focus on hope and faith – two favourite words and concepts that matter in our daily struggles as Christians. It is through faith that we believe that God exists and it is through hope that we know that we will behold Him face to face one day if we love Him and do His will here on earth. A true Christian can’t imagine a day without relying on God who provides for him/her. Hope and faith HELP us to look toward the future and to face the day-to-day challenges.

In the first reading, Paul reminds us that the sufferings of this world are limited to this world – they cannot be compared to the glory that awaits us. There is great comfort in knowing/believing that what we endure will seem so small in the light of our rewards. We eagerly await in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. He mentions hope again later in the readings as he emphasizes that: For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.

Hope has a certain mystery to it – an anticipation that something will happen. I would not say “I hope to see you” when you are standing there in front of me. Rather, hope is looking forward with belief and conviction particularly as Christians. Hope is closely connected with trust. Christian hope is rooted in faith in the divine salvation in Christ as stated in Galatians.

The responsorial psalm echoes this hope and trust as the last refrain states
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
Every seed that is planted is planted in the hope that it will grow – using the Biblical terminology it is planted in confident expectation. We expect that we will soon or later have something to reap.

In the Gospel, Jesus offers two analogies for the Kingdom of God. He speaks of the effect of yeast in flour to leaven bread and to dramatically increase its size. It is easy to see the effect when we leave rolls or bread in a warm environment usually letting the dough double in size or more.

The Kingdom will expand us well beyond what we can even imagine. Another analogy and comparison about the kingdom of heaven is that of the mustard seed – one of the smallest seeds in nature yet the resultant bush/tree is very impressive. There is a quote that says “Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is the courage to dance to it today.

Let Us Pray: Lord Jesus, give me the grace to seek you with my whole heart and may I persevere till the end of time. Amen.