The theme of the first week of Advent is hope.  The Lord has created each of us for hope.  “I know what plans I have in mind for you, the Lord declares, plans for peace, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

In the second book of Maccabees, we read about the martyrdom of seven brothers, each of whom was tortured and killed on the same day in front of his mother.  Before she too was killed, this mother encouraged her sons.  She said, “the Lord God is watching and certainly feels sorry for us”; she continued, “the Creator of the world, who made everyone and ordained the origin of all things, will in His mercy give you back breath and life, since for the sake of His laws you have no concern for yourselves” (2 Maccabees 7:6, 23). The Word of God describes this mother as “especially admirable and worthy of honorable remembrance, for she watched the death of seven sons in the course of a single day, and bravely endured it because of her hopes in the Lord” (2 Maccabees 7:20).  

How could she have remained hopeful in the face of such tremendous suffering?  Surely, many of us can recall a time in our lives when we have lost hope while enduring much less.  But the Scripture says that she remained hopeful because she knew the Lord, remembered Him in her time of distress, and trusted in His promises.  

First, this mother knew the One in whom she had put her trust.  She knew that the Lord was with her family.  She knew His compassion and mercy.  She knew that He felt sorry for them and would restore each of them to life.  She knew God as her Creator, and her children’s Creator, and that she was merely a steward of the good gifts He had given to her.  

As we enter into the first week of Advent, may we pray for the grace to know our Lord more and more, especially through treasuring His Word in our hearts.  St. Paul’s letter to the Romans clearly describes the connection between the Word of God and hope—“all these things . . . were written so that we, learning perseverance and the encouragement which the Scriptures give, should have hope” (Romans 15:4).  Only faith, which comes through hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17), can guarantee the blessings for which we hope (Hebrews 11:1).  Thus, let us accept the Lord’s invitation to remain in His Word this Advent and continually.   

Second, not only did this mother know the Lord, but she also remembered Him in her time of trial.  Hopelessness is so painful, perhaps one of the most difficult sufferings we can experience.  As Proverbs 13:12 acknowledges, “hope deferred makes the heart sick.”  In His great love for us, though, the Lord shows us that remembrance is a key to regaining hope.  

In Psalm 77, for example, the psalmist cries to God in distress as his heart refuses to be consoled and his spirit faints away.  He wonders whether the Lord has rejected him, whether God’s faithful love has come to an end.  But everything changes when the psalmist remembers the goodness of the Lord.  Regaining his hope, he exclaims, “I reflect on all that you did, I ponder all your great deeds.  God, your ways are holy!  What god is as great as our God” (Psalm 77:12-13)?

Likewise, in Lamentations 3:17-25, we see again that remembrance is essential—“I have forgotten what happiness is and thought, ‘My lasting hope in the Lord is lost’ . . . This is what I shall keep in mind and so regain some hope: Surely the Lord’s mercies are not over, His deeds of faithful love not exhausted; every morning they are renewed; great is His faithfulness!  ‘The Lord is all I have,’ I say to myself, ‘and so I shall put my hope in Him.’  The Lord is good to those who trust Him, to all who search for Him.”  When we too feel our spirits fainting away within us, may we encourage ourselves and one another to remember the Lord’s faithfulness. 

Third, in addition to knowing the Lord and remembering Him as she faced unimaginable hardship, this mother also trusted in His promises.  Indeed, the Lord is trustworthy.  “God is no human being that He should lie, no child of Adam to change His mind” (Numbers 23:19).  As the book of Sirach reminds us, we should not be alarmed when disaster comes (Sirach 2:2), but rather, trust in the Lord.  “Trust Him, and you will not be robbed of your reward . . . hope for those good gifts of His, everlasting joy and mercy.  Look at the generations of old and see: whoever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame? . . . The Lord is compassionate and merciful; He forgives sins and saves in the time of distress” (Sirach 2:8-11).

Abraham’s faith and trust in the Lord are a model for each of us.  Although there seemed no reason for hope, still, he hoped (Romans 4:18).  By earthly standards, it seemed impossible that God’s promise to him could be fulfilled.  But nothing is impossible for God (Luke 1:37).  Neither probabilities nor the external circumstances (his body was as good as dead—he was about a hundred years old—and Sarah’s womb should have been dead too) shook his faith.  

Instead, “counting on the promise of God, he did not doubt or disbelieve, but drew strength from faith and gave glory to God, fully convinced that whatever God promised He has the power to perform” (Romans 4:20-21).  Like Abraham, “let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the One who made the promise is trustworthy” (Hebrews 10:23).  And when we lose hope and regain it, may we, by God’s grace, also use this experience for good, to encourage one another to persevere in hope (Luke 22:32).   

My dear brothers and sisters, God is the source of all hope (Romans 15:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:16).  Put all your hope in His grace (1 Peter 1:13) because this is a hope which will not let us down (Romans 5:5).  No matter what you may be facing today, please remember that “those who hope in the Lord will regain their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).  Therefore, let us never hesitate to approach the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) when we are in need of hope, for the nearer we go to God, the nearer He will come to us (James 4:8)!  

“Put your hope in the Lord, be strong, let your heart be bold, put your hope in the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).