When Someone Showed Me the Way of Hope
It was a busy day at work when the phone rang. The tone of my husband instantly spelled dreadful news. “I’ve been arrested,” he said.
Every month, Jensil was assigned to collect hard cash to pay laborers on site. On that fateful day, technical issues and understaffed counters resulted in long queues, leaving him exhausted. He had finally collected the bundle, signed the receipts and drove off, only to find out an hour later that a large amount was missing. Hurriedly he raced back to meet the officers but was immediately issued an arrest warrant, offering no explanation. Within moments and without warning, our whole world shattered before us.
I returned home that evening and held our year-old daughter, nausea sweeping over me, wave after wave. We were new to the country, new to their laws, new to their language and I was new to faith.
The next few hours were a blur of tears, panic, and fear. As evening turned to night, my hopelessness was mysteriously interrupted by another call. This time, the tone reassuring.
“I’ve heard what happened,” she said. “We’re coming over.”
That evening we exchanged sobs and held each other while my friend prayed bold prayers on my behalf. She chose life when I was dying in grief. She chose hope when I was sinking in hopelessness.
By dawn, her husband joined us and we set out to find Jensil. We didn’t know which prison he was placed into, but were miraculously led there in the first attempt. We found him clearing release papers. Someone had intervened and the charges were dropped. And I have never been more grateful for the gift of community.
When Saint Paul issued the edict, “Christ in you, Hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:27), he wasn’t just giving us a revelation; he was calling us into a revolution of hope! To become, as Saint John Henry Newman urged, comforters, sowers, and protectors of hope like the Paraclete Himself.
This trial helped us to see how suffering internalized is dark and heavy, but suffering shared engenders courage and hope. It led us to realize that we cannot bear the pain of life on our own. It taught us to follow in our friends’ footsteps, to become a "people of hope" and to open wide the doors of our home and hearts to those grieving without this hope.
For the next two years, the case, although dismissed, remained open by law. We lived in the unpredictable but not without hope. Seeds were sown and the Spirit watered. Today we see the fruit, realized through the grace of belonging, the gift of trusted friendship, and the gravity of shared hope.
Let Us Pray
Holy Spirit, in You we live and move and have our being. In You we find hope and strength to face the hardships of life. Fill our hearts with more of Your Love so that, in Your Name, we may offer comfort, safety, and hope to those in need. Amen!
For Discussion
Has there been a time in your life when someone in your community helped you when you were at your worst? What kind of fruit did that vulnerability bear in your own heart? In your friendship? In your faith?
How has God called you to be the supporter in times of someone else's great sorrow? What kind of fruit did that vulnerability bear in your own heart? In your friendship? In your faith?
They That Hope: The 2022 Prayer Pledge // Day 25 #BISblog #prayerpledge //Click to tweet
Michelle Karen D’Silva is a regular contributor to the BIS blog and an itinerant Catholic speaker housed in the little peninsula of Qatar. With an immense passion for discipleship, her vision is to see young people bloom into radical future saints. And so she finds herself most at home engaging with these fire-starters over conversations coupled with karak and hummus. Whether preaching, writing, or training, she never fails to return to Pope Benedict XVI—her go-to guy—who constantly inspires her to live out the “Call to Greatness” as an empowered woman empowering women in ministry, wife to a doting hubby, and mama to two constantly hungry sheep. Find out more about her here. Read all of Michelle's posts here.
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