For a long time, my friends and family have known about my affinity for the word “hope”:
- hoping for things that I couldn't quite believe in
- taking my college internship at a place with the word “hope” in the name
- trusting God’s providence in a long season of infertility
Over time it has come to have a variety of meanings for me, and I still gravitate toward it.
A Season of Hope, a Year of Hope
Which is why it is of particular interest that this Jubilee Year, which we begin on Christmas Eve, is dedicated explicitly to hope! On the heels of the 2024 year of prayer, the year of hope is intended to encourage the faithful to go into the world as pilgrims of hope, because we love the One Who gives us reason for great hope:
The great tradition of opening the Holy Door will begin when Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica on December 24, 2024. Other holy doors will be opened at the Rome basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. For pilgrims who cannot travel to Rome, bishops around the world are expected to designate their cathedrals or a popular Catholic shrine as special places of prayer for Holy Year pilgrims, offering opportunities for reconciliation, indulgences and other events intended to strengthen and revive faith (source).
This year’s Blessed Is She Advent devotional is called A Thrill of Hope, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. As Providence would have it, it was only after author Liz Kelly Stanchina finished writing the devotional that the announcement of the year of hope was released.
Stanchina does a beautiful job walking through the season of Advent. Not only does she highlight hope as we enter the season of hope, in the year of hope, but she also sheds light on this topic through the examples of four incredible women from Scripture.
Eve: Created for Hope
I love that the theme for the focus on Eve is one of hope, because so often the opposite can become the focus. Her mission, alongside Adam, was to be a person of hope: a person who would trust and obey God. We know what came next, but being reminded of Eve’s initial creation is to do justice to her dignity, and ultimately Who God is.
Sarah: The Burden of Hope
Who better than a pregnant, elderly woman to remind us of the long game that hope can be? Sarah’s initial response to the news that her lifelong prayer had been answered was laughter! The culmination of unexpected timing and joy, paired with basic human limitation, likely made her more than a little giggly. If hope is a desire for a thing not seen, Sarah is an icon of hope in the long haul.
Ruth: A Living Hope
Recently my daughter put Bible tabs in her Bible, and on noticing how short the book of Ruth is, asked to read it together. As we read, we discovered a story filled with hope. We met Ruth, a widow and devoted daughter-in-law. Forging ahead in the company of Naomi, also widowed, the women return to the land of Naomi’s family. While gleaning the fields and asking God’s mercy on their future, their prayer is heard in her marriage to Boaz, wherein Ruth becomes the mother of Obed and grandmother of David.
Mary: Bearer of Hope
We cannot wholly enter into Advent without Mary’s guidance. In both of their Gospels, Saint Matthew and Saint Luke point to Mary’s humble prominence and trust in God in their infancy narratives. The Advent season is the story of Mary’s fiat, her yes, to the role of carrying God’s Son, Jesus. In doing so, she physically becomes the bearer of our hope, Jesus.
Praying With A Thrill of Hope
Who wouldn’t benefit from some time with these women? Whether on your lunch break, at first light, before bed, with friends or alone, allow the Word of God to seep into your soul this Advent. God has already stepped into human history to be closer to us. Advent is a beautiful time to intentionally take steps to become closer to Jesus.
Very soon, Christmas carols will loom large in department stores and local radio stations. In many places, the darkness has begun to creep in earlier and earlier. This year, as Pope Francis opens the Holy Door on the Jubilee Year of Hope, join me and the Blessed Is She community in walking into the season of hope in the Light of Christ, and in the company of Eve, Sarah, Ruth, and Mary.
“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”
// O Holy Night by Adolphe Adam
Katie Cassady is a regular contributor to the BIS blog. She is a wife and mom to three little girls in Denver, CO. Steeped in theological reflection, beekeeping and motherhood, she is appreciative of any and all wisdom she can glean from those living intentional lives of faith. Find out more about her here. Read all of Katie's posts here.
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