Hope does not disappoint!

Third Sunday of Lent “A”

Brothers and sisters:

Since we have been justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom we have gained access by faith

to this grace in which we stand,

and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

And hope does not disappoint,

because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For Christ, while we were still helpless,

died at the appointed time for the ungodly.

Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,

though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.

But God proves his love for us

in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

We come to Church today with many concerns: the Corona virus, the economy, our health, do we have enough toilet paper? We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, so I would like to turn today's second reading it tells us where our hearts and minds should be at this moment. The author says, “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Our hope is in our God who is father . Of course wewash our hands, we protect ourselves from the virus, if we are sick we will stay at home, but that is not our hope! Our hope is in God.  Saint Paul says that the hope has been poured into our hearts. The hope we have is not to protect ourselves from evil, it is even to keep us healthy. No the hope we have is to continue loving.  In times of crisis, the natural thing is to protect ourselves. It is natural to try to protect our family, our loved ones. But the hope we have is not to protect ourselves. It is not for the well-being of my family. No, the Christian's hope moves us to think of others.

I understand that the stores are crazy right now. That people are buying like it wasn't tomorrow. This is hoarding  and the Bible is very clear that the reaction of a Christian should not be accumulating more stuff than we need.  I was listening to the radio today. Not Radio Maria, not a Christian channel, just NPR. They were interviewing a psychologist and she said that when we go to the store we should not buy more toilet paper than we could use in a week or two. No, she said that we should buy aluminum trays. Aluminum trays? Why aluminum trays? And she said yes Aluminum trays to bring food to your neighbor when they got sick. She explained that when people are in crisis, they tend to just think of themselves. She said that worrying about yourself won't make you feel better. But when we do something for others, especially the poorest, the sickest, those who are suffering, we begin to feel real relief.  

The Samaritan woman, upon meeting Jesus, knowing that he was the messiah returned to her own town. The people that she had excluded because she was a divorced woman, a woman who had 5 husbands. The woman they liked to gossip about. She returned to her town and shared with them her joy in finding the Lord.  Yes, we are concerned. We do not know what will happen, but hope does not disappoint it has put his love in our hearts. May God not bless and protect us all.