Channels of Hope

At a recent community gathering, the sisters at the Mount considered our response to the culture of pessimism that our U.S. society seems to be immersed in. Given growing divisions between segments of the population, the overwhelming challenges of a warming planet, and the anxiety and depression of many of our youth, it’s tempting to believe that our individual efforts to act with purpose, hospitality, and hope are to no avail.

The first thing we need to do is reframe the question, “What good can I do?” Instead, we should be asking, “What does God want to do through me?” Our ego gets involved when we think about what “I” can do; we want to measure our success and get discouraged when we don’t seem to be achieving much. If, instead, we attempt to be open to the ways God wants to work through us — cooperating with God’s grace instead of trying to act on our own — we can let go of expectations and find that, as Jesus said, when we remain in God and God in us, we will bear much fruit (Jn 15:4-5).

Here at the Mount we experienced this form of grace when the program Journey to New Life asked if they could purchase Peace House, our building that once housed 30+ sisters who ministered in the Kansas City area. Journey to New Life assists women who are transitioning from life in prison — just the kind of program we once would have started ourselves. Instead of clinging to this mostly unoccupied building and dreaming that enough women would join us to fill it again one day, we discerned that God had a different plan for this space that we could help facilitate. Journey to New Life is now thriving in Peace House and helping women rebuild their lives and families — and who knows what gifts they in turn will contribute to the world?

According to Michael F. Lee in Give Us This Day, “Jesus says it is the outsiders, the widow in Zarephath, the leper in Syria, who are privileged channels of hope.” Former president Jimmy Carter took this to heart and directed his post-presidential efforts into building houses for Habitat for Humanity and working to eradicate diseases such as guinea worm that primarily affect the poor in remote regions. Thus the unhoused and poor became channels of hope that it is possible to restore dignity and facilitate healing for those in need.

Two other pieces of advice about how to counter despair come from Fr. Daniel Berrigan, who said, “If you want to be hopeful, you have to do hopeful things,” and Dorothy Day, who said, “No one has the right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.” All right, then! Let us be open to God’s grace and carry on in hope.