To be Bearers of Hope
“There is something ultimate in a father’s love, something that cannot fail, something to be believed against the whole world.” -Frederick W. Faber
Cagayan de Oro City: When the world, especially in the context of pandemic, tells us that we are weak and useless, there is someone who believes in us and gives us light of hope. His voice keeps on telling us, “You are precious… worthy of esteem… I am with you… I love you.” He never gets tired of reaching out to us. We are witnesses to that. We see how he works in our day-to-day endeavors, how he sends help through generous people around us. In this way we can say we never lack anything because we know that He who calls us provides for us. These are simple things but undoubtable deeds of God. Of all these, God tells us, “In this change there is something that remains forever, that is, my love for you.”
Most of us may think, on one side, that the pandemic is a form of a negative phenomenon by way how it disturbs the world. All of us suffer – our economies drop and more than that, the poor are greatly affected. Simply, it brought us many new forms of poverty. It even brought us difficulties that are too distressing to the extent that many lives were lost. On the other side, there are still many who see the pandemic positively. Despite all the distractions, something great comes with it. It is a grace from God, indeed. Such occurrence leads us to a moment of reflection wherein we realize that relationship matters – our relationship to ourselves, family and friends, other people, and above all, God. We are given the opportunity to develop, restore, and even create relationships which are fundamental conditions for us to grow and become more human.
We mentioned the many new forms of poverty as products of the pandemic but such forms of poverty already existed even before the pandemic, and they were only magnified by the said crisis. The thing is, we cannot deny those issues, for they will still be with us even after the pandemic is over. We should not be blind to it and there is no way for us to stay away from those. It is because God calls us for that. It is there that God is calling us to evangelize.
We are well-aware of our identity as poor servants and our responsibilities as bearers of God’s paternity. And so, in this world today where human power with doubts, fears, and worries seem to rule, we are challenged to put more emphasis on our task of becoming the embodiment of charity, of becoming mothers and fathers in our hope to live with all under the paternity of God. There are people around us who are abandoned, neglected, deprived of needs. Simply, they are the poor. The least we can do as poor servants is to pray for them. But how are we different from other people? Anyone can pray for them to be given of their needs. Anyone can pray for a hungry person to be fed. Only few actually feed them. Anyone can pray for a homeless person to find shelter, but only few actually receive them. Anyone can pray for the abandoned and neglected by the society but only few actually welcome, love, and care for them. We should know the fact that all are able to pray but not all are capable of listening, caring, and loving.
Hence, we are challenged in this moment to become actual fathers and mothers in the spirit of paternity rather than just being the ideal ones.
