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Rector's Study
Signs of Blessed Hope
 Fr.
Timothy Perkins, SSC
Vth Rector
Signs of despair are all around us
as we come to the conclusion of another year. The
figures from the Stock Market would cause plenty of
concern, even were they not typically accompanied by
dire predictions of what lies ahead. The pre-maturity
of decoration for “the holiday season” manifests what
seems to be a last-ditch effort to speak the lie that
all is well in this world. Even in the Church,
fragmentation follows on fragmentation, and some who had
put their trust in the fulfillment of Christ’s prayer
“that they may all be one” (John 17:21) give up and go
away. But the faithful are distinctly privileged, even
in the midst of a desperate world, to have been given
reliable signs of hope. “Out of the depths,” we are
constantly reassured, “in his word is my hope” (Psalm
130).
Seasons of hope
The beginning of the ecclesiastical
year with the season of Advent is, in itself, one such
sign of hope. In observance of the season, Holy Church
bears witness to our faith by watchfulness, by
preparation and repentance, by rejoicing to “walk by
faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). On the first
Sunday of Advent each year, Jesus reminds the faithful
that we “will see the Son of man coming in clouds with
power and great glory” (Mark 13:26). Trusting in
Christ’s word, we proclaim this truth in the creed and
continually turn our hearts to meet him. The earliest
Christians so embraced the final coming of our Lord that
the longing for the Day informed their common prayer.
Evidence of this is clearly seen in St. Paul’s
repetition of the prayerful cry, “Maranatha!” (1
Corinthians 16:22) and in St. John’s shared plea at the
conclusion of his mystical address to “the seven
churches,” “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
Of course, the foundation of the
hopefulness that we have in him whose coming in glory we
await is our belief in the mystery of “the Word made
flesh.” The birth of the Son of God and son of Mary,
which we celebrate in the Christmas season, provides an
occasion of spiritual reawakening to the reality that
the eternal transcendence of Divinity has in mercy taken
up our humanity. The separation caused by sin, of
humanity from God and human beings from one another, is
bridged in the person of the Incarnate One. “Emmanuel”
is not merely a title; it is a profound expression of
the truth that, in and through Christ the Lord, God is
with us, and being with us, draws us into communion with
one another.
Sacramental hope
Within this sacred fellowship, by
our very existence as “Church,” we ourselves are
appointed to be one of the surest signs of hope in this
world. The writings of St. Paul teach us to conceive of
ourselves as the Body of Christ, something we
prayerfully express in the familiar phrase of the
post-communion thanksgiving, “we are very members
incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son” (BCP
339). As Christ’s Body, we participate in the life of
the Son of God, revealing his purpose for the salvation
of this world from sin, despair, and death. In his
admirable study of the Incarnation, Christ, the
Christian and the Church, E. L. Mascall expressed
this participation thus,
“From the
Incarnation onwards the history of the world is the
history of the Christian Church, and the end to which
the whole process is moving is the remaking and
gathering together of the whole human race through
incorporation into Christ.”
When we are faithful as the Church
to our calling to be an extension of Christ’s
Incarnation, the despairing world may come to see us as
a manifestation of the “mystery, which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
This mystery of the presence of
Christ in and among us is nurtured by our regular
practice of the faith. The signs of hope ordained by
Christ as channels of grace, as “sure and certain means”
by which we are continually awakened to our mystical
union with him, are the Holy Sacraments. By our
participation in them, we are spiritually conjoined with
him who is himself our hope. Only by the reception of
the inward and spiritual grace of which the sacraments
are outward and visible signs are we empowered to be
that living sign of hope that Christ established his
holy Catholic Church to be.
Abiding hope
A great benefit in not only
recognizing, but also faithfully receiving all of these
signs of hope is that they transform the recipients.
Hope becomes much more than a fleeting desire or wishful
thinking. The virtue of hope is constantly present in
the lives of the faithful. Like the other so-called
“theological virtues” of faith and love, hope “abides”
(1 Corinthians 13:13).
How profoundly we need this
constancy of hope. Like the world around us, we are
troubled by circumstances outside of our control. Yet,
our hope is in him who was born of the Blessed Virgin
Mary. Suffering of various kinds, financial, emotional,
physical, and more, afflict us from time to time. But
we hope for him who comes again, “whose kingdom shall
have no end.” Structures and institutions in which we
have trusted fail us, but the one in whom our hope
abides comes to us and dwells with us and strengthen us
to hope in him.
Originally published in Forward
in Christ
Volume 1, Number 4, December 2008. Reissued
by permission.
Previous Issues:
Pentecost
2009
Easter 2009
Lent 2009
Winter 2009
Advent 2008
Summer 2008
Pentecost
2008
Easter 2008
Lent 2008
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
Summer 2006
June 2006
Lent 2006
Advent 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
Summer 2004
Easter 2004
Lent 2004
February 2004
Epiphany 2004
Advent 2003
Easter 2003
Lent 2003
February 2003
Epiphany 2003
October 2002
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