Love

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Love

Holy Spirit

Pour Into Hearts

Saved By His Life

Hope

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Romans 5:5

Saint Paul in writing his letter to the Christian community at Rome said:

Hope does not disappoint!

The Love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Reflection

We have all had to deal with disappointments. It might have been a job that we really wanted that we didn't get. Maybe it was a relationship with someone we really liked and we got rejected. Remember the candidate you voted for who lost?

How did you overcome those disappointments and move on? St. Paul in our reading from Romans shows us one path forward. It is the path of Love.

The Love that St. Paul is speaking about is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a Divine Love. When we truly realize that we are loved completely and totally by God, we are able to overcome our disappointments and put them into perspective. 

It does not mean that there will be no more disappointments. They will certainly come because we realize that there are many injustices in our world, and we have to constantly strive to fight against them.

One sometimes humorous take on this happens when a friend reads a paragraph about inequality and prejudice in society and reveals that the author lived in 250BCE. We look at it and say, "Not much has changed in over two thousand years!" We often see the same thing when we read the Book of Psalms.

Yes, the disappointments will be there. In the midst of them we know that the Holy Spirit has been poured out on us. I love that expression "poured out". I think of the generosity of God who does not just give us a little bit of the Holy Spirit (that would be more than enough!), but who lavishly pours the Holy Spirit all over us. Imagine yourself drenched with the Holy Spirit!

Jesus has come to save us by His Life. He holds nothing back and makes the ultimate sacrifice for us. He has demonstrated and continues to demonstrate His Love for us. He never wants us to feel alone in our disappointments, so He has sent and continues to send the Holy Spirit to be with us and to guide us as we try to overcome the disappointments that we have faced and will continue to face.

This leads us to hope. We have experienced those times when we were disappointed one day and surprised the next.

One of the experiences that brings this home is in the world of sports. Yes, there are many disappointments when our favorite team loses. We can be crushed when the star player leaves the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and out team loses by one run. 

The amazing thing is the very next day that same player might hit a walk-off home run when we gave up and thought our team was going to suffer another loss.

The Holy Spirit can surprise us like that also. We can be so upset when we observe people being discriminated against because of the color of their skin, sex or sexual orientation, nationality, or religion or lack of religion and then surprised when the Holy Spirit touches the heart of that person who was being prejudiced. 

The same person who was exhibiting so much prejudice and ignorance has a change in attitude and becomes more understanding and accepting. So many times, I have heard someone say, "I never thought that would happen in my lifetime!"

Hope comes because we continue to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to touch all of our hearts with the power of Love.

Keep on hoping!

You will not be disappointed!

1. How do you deal with disappointment?

2. Have you ever experienced a surprise from the Holy Spirit?

3. Do you feel that Jesus has poured out the Holy Spirit on you and drenched you with the Holy Spirit?

4. Can you think of a time in your life when hope overcame disappointment?

5. What do you feel as you reflect on Kathy's photo?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John J. McNamara)

4.