As we explore these memories, goodness, gentleness, forgiveness and acceptance become real again. What has been experienced can again be true. In remembering an experience of goodness we strengthen the hope of knowing such goodness in the future. The person who has no experience of goodness, or for whom the memory of it has been corrupted or lost, has little chance of nurturing hope for the future.The most important and powerful memory we recall on our Advent journey is that of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, in Bethlehem, in the company of the animals in the stable and the shepherds summoned to greet him. This Jesus is the Christ. He is the Eternal Word of God, the only Son of the Father. The memory of this incarnation of the Godhead is the source of our hope. In remembering that God has come to be with us, we hope that we may be with him, for the eternity of his life.
In his recent Encyclical Letter Caritas in veritate (Love in Truth), concerning the integral development of humanity and societies, Pope Benedict says this: ‘All people feel the interior imperative to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because they are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person’ (para. 1). Advent is a season which helps us to see this truth working out in our own experience. In the people we know, those with whom we have celebrated Christmas, we will have seen the desire for love and truth. We know that this never leaves them completely. Therefore we have reason to hope.
Advent is concerned with the connection between memory and hope in a very special way. The purpose of Advent is to awaken in us the most important memory of all: that of God who became a child for us. Indeed, the purpose of the Church’s Liturgy is always to help us to recall and live again the memory of the events of our salvation. The Church helps us to select those memories which will prove to be the foundation of our lasting hope. So, year by year, during Advent we ponder the promises of the coming of a Saviour, the events which prepare for that coming, and the birth itself. Each year we try to make these memories our own, so that the hope they contain will be ours also.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church goes on to say that the virtue of
hope esponds to the aspirations to happiness which
God has placed in every human heart
The figure of Santa Claus can help us here. This ‘Father Christmas’ figure will appear everywhere, sometimes for commercial purposes, sometimes as an expression of goodwill and sometimes for no reason other than ‘we have always done it’. Let us remember the origins of the figure. The oldest tradition has always equated Santa Claus, or St Nicholas, with the Bishop Nicholas who took part in the Council of Nicaea in 325. It was that great Council which affirmed the true divinity of Jesus Christ. St Nicholas helped us to understand that the baby born in the stable is indeed God in our flesh. Jesus, whose birth we recall, is not simply a great religious figure but God himself become one of us! Santa Claus, then, is a signpost to the true meaning of Christmas. And Santa Claus is always remembered as the giver of presents, those signs of love which point to the far greater, eternal, love which God has for each of us!
This memory of God-with-us is the foundation of our hope. If God is with us in our life, then we can indeed hope to be with God in God’s own life. This is the virtue of hope, rooted in the fact and living memory of the incarnation. ‘Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1817). This is the virtue we can strive to strengthen during this Advent.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church goes on to say that the virtue of hope responds to the aspirations to happiness which God has placed in every human heart; it takes up the hopes that inspire our activities; it keeps us from discouragement; it sustains us when we feel abandoned; it opens our hearts to eternal happiness; it protects us from selfishness and leads us to the joy that flows from love (para. 1818).
This is the great work of hope, much needed in our lives today. The beautiful task of Advent is to strengthen this hope by reawakening in us memories of goodness! I trust that as you recall the goodness of the past you will grow in your hope for the future.
May God bless us in this Advent journey of reflection and prayer. May the Holy Spirit strengthen hope in your hearts and bring you to a joyful Christmas celebration. The birth of this Eternal King is for ever the source of our hope.
