Letters to Lukewarmers: When Hope Was Born

This was an Advent talk I gave last year, December 2019, in a Christian Charismatic Community that I am a part of, edited for the purpose of this blog. May it help you prepare your heart to Jesus this Christmas.

I was asked to share perhaps a personal reflection or insight as we approach this season of Advent. Well, before anything else, I must confess the past few months I've been feeling, as the saying goes, "down on my luck" lately. Work has been kind of slow, and discouraging. And it distressingly affects me emotionally and makes me lose interest in doing things. And so, as I pray on what the Holy Spirit wanted me to share to you as we prepare ourselves for the season of Advent given my said despondent disposition, I was reminded about the gift God had shown me during my 1st deeper conversion of faith back in high school many eons ago, that helps recollect my spirit in times such as these. And it's a timely reminder for me because it's also something we are being constantly reminded of when Advent season comes along. Perhaps someone here tonight who share the same, or even a worse predicament or circumstance right now, may also need to hear this as well.

AN ATHEISTS GROUP PAGE

To start, let me share a couple of very brief narratives or accounts. Earlier this year, a stranger whom I only got to know in Facebook invited me to a closed group he and his buddies created. He said they created the group for members to talk about religion from different denominations and beliefs. According to him, there are Catholics and Protestants in the group along with Non-believers, a.k.a. Atheists, and claimed that group members are open-minded, respectful and willing to dialogue. I said to him that I am honored to be invited and will gladly join but informed him that I may not have the luxury of time to be able to frequent the group page as much as he and his buddies expect me to. He said it’s ok, so I accepted his invitation. When I visited the page, I found out that it was run by a group of 4 or 5 Filipino Atheists, except maybe one Christian of some denomination as administrators of the group. To be honest, before the dawn of social media, I never thought there are a lot of atheists in existence, let alone Filipino atheists, more than I had ever imagined or presumed. So it comes to me as both shocking and sad. Indeed new atheism is on the rise and probably growing. Last time I checked the page, there are currently a dozen members in that group. And I was, you may say, culture shock to read the posts and comments these Atheists make. Somehow you can sense a lot of angst, bitterness, hostility, animosity and arrogance in the way they share their posts and comments, ridiculing and mocking God, Jesus and Christians here and there, even bullying. They consider Christians generally as irrational, illogical, and dumb, and Scientism seemed to be their only lord and savior, even though they don’t seem to be aware of it. For the few Christians in that group, it seems no matter what and how we try to represent Christianity, doing it with gentleness and respect as what St. Peter counsels us, we Christians can do no right, and they (the atheists) can do no wrong. So much for open-mindedness.

Anyway, it’s been about 3 months now since I last checked-in (and it's not a good and fruitful use of my time to be doing so anyway), but I do recall one time, one of the atheist administrators was telling his buddies that they need to start inviting or recruiting more new Christian members into the group (since it is beginning to be a little quiet), in order basically to have more opportunities to question and challenge (and ridicule) Christian perspective and rationality. It led me to wonder why they still need to constantly scratch that itch, even though, at least on surface, they already appear very convinced to have "stumped" every Christian arguments and overly confident of their atheistic worldview in the way they talk or rant. I thought it was quite sad. I felt sorry for them, because I felt there was this sense of restless longing and discontentment inside them, whether they are aware of it or not and whether they admit it or not. For them, enough seems never enough.

"WHY BE CHRISTIANS?"

Another account I would like to share was from one of the famous Atheists, I forgot whether it was either Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchkins. In his debate against a Christian fellow, he once asked, and I am paraphrasing here, “Why do we have to be Christians? There is nothing Christians can do that Atheists cannot do. If Christians build hospitals, Atheists can do that too. If Christians donate to charity, Atheists can do that too. If Christians help the poor, feed the hungry, visit the sick, etc., Atheists can do all of those as well. So why do we still need to be a Christian? What’s the difference?”

ONE COMMON ANSWER

I brought these two anecdotes out because for me, they share one common answer. Yes, there is a difference to an Atheist’s benevolence from a Christian’s charity and yes, there is an explanation to my atheist friends' desperate wandering and restlessness. And the answer lies in the season we are about to celebrate in the coming weeks: the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Because the birth of Our Lord, the Messiah, inspires us and brings us the gift of HOPE, the one virtue these atheists lack and easily take for granted. Without transcendent hope, particularly when they hit rock bottom, they'll learn it is far tougher to be charitable, and far easier to harbor resentments and animosity towards God and fellow men, because they have nothing to cling onto, nothing and no one to hope for. Transcendent Hope drives one to persevere and to be patient in all things, regardless if one feels up or down.

MEANING TO SUFFERING
I have experienced this in my own spiritual journey. The gift that God had shown me, as I mentioned when I began my sharing, is that gift of Christian HOPE. This gift of hope is near and dear to my heart especially during my deeper conversion to faith that began back in high school and early part of college, those times in my life the virtue of hope was greatly manifested. It is, I believe, the very first virtue I noticed that made a difference between my Christian life and my old self. During my conversion days in high school that extended through college, the virtue of Christian hope kept me back on track when I wanted to stray away, and whenever I was faced with adversity, most especially when I was falling into despair and discouragement. It kept me from digging with my own hands a hole of rebellion and instability towards God the moment I was experiencing anything that goes against my expectation or upsets my plan. Christian hope I experienced in God gave me a sense of certainty of being on the right path despite my failures and faults. Somehow, through God’s grace, it led my spirit to resiliency and abandonment. It’s not an abandonment like in the form of quietism (by quietism as defined in the dictionary, we mean “the acceptance of things as they are without attempts to resist or change them”), because somehow even when I felt discourage and desperate, it obliged me to keep going, reminded me to persevere on my path and how to always go back and start again whenever I fall. It instilled confidence and serenity or peace. It gave me a sense of purpose. Instead of giving up, it gives meaning to my suffering.

It was through the virtue of Hope from the Lord that made it a little easier for me and somehow a bit surprised to find myself thanking Him, not only for all the good things He blessed me with, but for all the bad things in life that came my way: All the No’s, the closed doors, the endings and goodbyes, the roadblocks and the prayers that were never answered.

NOSTALGIC HEART

The two dilemmas I shared earlier: one that of my Facebook atheist friends and the other that of Richard Dawkin’s (or Christopher Hitchkins'), reminds me even more the words of St. Augustine that still holds very true to this day as it was written 1600 years ago: “You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until it rest on You.” I heard from Theologians that God rooted in our hearts a deep longing for Him whether we are aware of it or not, whether we believe in Him or do not. And as long as we are on the road on this earth, we carry with us this nostalgia for God and a dark restlessness that sounds pretty much like what my atheist friends are cluelessly clamoring or searching. And this sense of longing can only be relieved by finding and knowing God. If, like my atheists friends, we keep blocking this sense of longing in our hearts, our restlessness and nostalgia would eventually turn into despair and anguish, an endless wandering, purposeless seeking and discontentment. Nothing in this world perfectly quiets the longing of the soul than God alone. No wonder our hearts are always filled with excitement and joyful anticipation every time Christmas draws near, isn’t it?

WORLD WITHOUT HOPE

In a recent article I came across with regarding the new movie about the Joker, the writer reminds readers what the real world in which we live in would potentially be like without God in it. He writes that Joker came from an evil past and in which the world around him was hopelessly infected with the evils of self-centeredness, bullying, deception, and corruption. Perhaps like what my atheist Facebook friends are experiencing, each day is merely a purposeless exertion of energy, pushing the same boulder up the same hill. There was no basis for Hope. The absence of God in the film sets before us a shocking and disturbing vision of a mind and a world without transcendence, purpose, or hope.

Furthermore, he adds: “We cannot live without hope. Lacking hope, we inevitably move toward hell—toward absolute despair. The Joker is so painful to watch he said because it contains enough truth to show us a future following the turn away from God. Once God is “dead” in our lives, what is the real cause for hope, or the principle around which society can unite itself? The very heart of Christianity is a hope grounded in the infinitely good God (the Word became flesh one Christmas eve and dwelt among us), who can bring us to the heavenly home in which we find the peace that nothing in this world can give.”

CULTIVATE THE VIRTUE

So as we approach this Advent season, first of all I asked that you keep me in your prayers to experience and encounter that deeper sense of hope once again as I walk through these temporal moments of desolation, and secondly to also invite all of you, in our waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ our Savior into our hearts--amidst the hustle and bustle of the holidays, amidst our being busy with technology tinkering with our gadgets, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram time, taking pictures of our sumptuous Noche Buenas, beautiful Christmas trees and decorations; amidst the Louie Vuitton bags, the latest IPhone gadget or ugly sweaters Christmas presents you've received; and amidst the Annual Christmas family portraits, selfies, gatherings and getaways we do and go to—I invite you to intentionally spare some Advent time in our prayer life to ask the Holy Spirit to cultivate that virtue of Christian Hope. Hope in our interior life, in our family life, and in our community life. Because when we commit ourselves some time with our Lord in prayer and meditation as we make our journey through Advent, more and more light attends in our journey, we hear more about His promise, His prophecy, about His Son and about His salvation if we listen to God’s word, you get to be filled with greater faith and deeper Hope. Chik-fil-A came up with a brilliant message in their latest Christmas ad this year of what it means to be intentional this Advent. Entitled "The Time Shop", the message simply is this: “Give the Gift of Time.”

The Time Shop by Chik-Fil-A

MARY DID KNOW

As we reflect on the virtue of Hope this Advent, let us imitate Mary--the Mother of Jesus, our Hope seat of Wisdom, the vessel in whom the Holy Child was born--who not only for a few short weeks that she awaited and ardently prepared herself physically and spiritually as she carried our Savior in her womb, but nine long, enduring, yet hopeful months. If anyone knows the true virtue of Hope, it is Mary. Pope Francis said, Mary "is an example of strength and courage in accepting new life and in sharing the suffering of their children... She teaches us the virtue of waiting even when everything appears meaningless."

There is no better season in our calendar year than Advent to reflect upon this gift of Christian Hope, for this is the time of the year that redirects and points our minds and our hearts more importantly to the source of that gift, and for which our Christmas theme this year also fittingly affirms when it says "Rejoice, Jesus came for us and to make His Father known." And the Father for whom in Christ revealed is the Giver of Hope to mankind, the source of all that is good, the Light in this world's darkness, the God of second chances. Hope that brings true peace and inner joy amidst the storms and sense of emptiness in our hearts.

"THERE'S SOME GOOD IN THIS WORLD"

To end, allow me to share with you one last thing before you grab a pillow and drift to sleep. You know, one of my most, if not my most favorite movie lines of all time (probably way up there on the top of my list), is from the movie “Lord of the Rings.” Written by the great Catholic Christian author J.R.R. Tolkien, the trilogy is riddled with Christian themes and symbolism.

When Two Towers came out back in the early part of 2000's, I was also in that time, I should say, in a despondent, lowly state. A cloud of hopelessness, despair and uncertainty hung over my head. Almost the entire movie, as I was watching, my mind was drifting away on and off, out of focus, until it came close to the climax of the movie I think, where Frodo and his loyal sidekick Sam Gamgee was taking cover against flying dragons scorching the villages with flames coming out of its mouths. Seeing all the helplessness, havoc and destruction, chaos and death, anger and frustration, Frodo was ready to give up the journey. He was giving up on hope. He said: "I can't do this, Sam."

Then what Sam said to Frodo next was epic, it woke me up like a light switch and struck my heart that fateful day, it must be providential.

Sam replied:

“I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here.
But we are.
It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger they were,
And sometimes you didn't want to know the end.
Because how could the end be happy?
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened?
But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass.
A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something.
Even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand.
I know now.
Folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t.
Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo asked: "What are we holding on to, Sam?"

Sam replied: "That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for."

Romans 5:1-5, 15:13 “Therefore, 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 into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Amen.

Merry Christmas!