Letter of December 23, 2005

Jesus Our Hope
The Most Reverend Carl F. Mengeling, Bishop of Lansing

It seems like only yesterday that we and all humanity joyously welcomed the Third Millennium and the 21st Century.

The spectacular celebrations, excitement and euphoria are still so vivid!

Our beloved John Paul II led our journey into the future on the high road with his stirring call - ‘Crossing the Threshold of HOPE!’.

Five years have zipped by (seems jet-propelled) and we look to the future again.

We will soon enter the Christmas event as we celebrate the Birth of Our Saviour in us more than last year. Our greater identification with Our Lord enables us then to welcome the New Year, 2006, with confidence and courage.

John Paul’s right as usual. HOPE is at the heart of every Christmas and New Year of our lives. HOPE is the dynamic force at work in the biblical accounts of our salvation in Christ.

The sounds and colors of Christmas are everywhere for over a month (perhaps since Halloween). After awhile we pay little attention. Yet, the rich variety of Carols of many nations have much to tell us.

Of course the FIRST Christmas carol is in Luke 2,14. The lyrics were written by God. It was first sung by the angels in the presence of the shepherds of Bethlehem: "Glory to God in the highest. Peace to his people on earth".

The first carol is still sung, not just at Christmas, but daily and everywhere as we sing or recite the Gloria at almost every Mass (except Advent and Lent). The first carol is the standard for all Christmas carols.

Two very familiar carols tell of HOPE. In ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ we sing: "The HOPES and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight". In ‘O Holy Night’ we sing: "A thrill of HOPE, the weary world rejoices".

The connection between HOPE and Christmas was beautifully expressed by a French writer in the early 20th Century. "HOPE is the little slip of a child who came into the world on Christmas Day".

The writer, Charles Peguy, was a prolific author and a devout Catholic. He was drafted into the French army during World War I and was killed at the Battle of the Marne on September 5, 1914.

St. Thomas Aquinas affirms that to live is to hope and to have no hope is the greatest calamity.

Even in dying, the believer has HOPE in the vision that will not disappoint. In and through Christ we HOPE for:

- Eternal life and happiness in the vision of God our Father

- Communion with the saints

- Resurrection and glorification of the body

- Everlasting life.

A recent Theologian, Balthasar (+1988) writes: "While all things in the world sink down toward death, HOPE is the only thing that swims against the stream and moves upward". Christ is our HOPE!

Our new Holy Father, Benedict related HOPE to our communion with our Lord in the Eucharist: "In the Eucharist we join the Divine Wayfarer who joined the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and opened their hearts to HOPE. They became witnesses of HOPE".

Christ is our HOPE!