I have been thinking about hope. I know within the Christian tradition, hope is a virtue. The Apostle Paul’s words at the end of I Corinthians 13 are well known. He identifies faith, hope and love. Of course, there he says that love is the most important. Basically, I agree with the first century saint of the church. But there are times when it seems hope is out in front of love. Maybe we can say that love is how we are called to be at work in the world. And hope is how we are to view the world and where we are heading. I feel better thinking God may be involved in all this with us.
I do know that hope is one of those things which is easy to talk about as an idea, but every one of us knows hope is as much a feeling as it is an idea. I can imagine being in despair, while holding forth in a conversation about hope! I am always looking for ways to sharpen how I think about it, how to cultivate it and, more importantly, how to live a life grounded in hope, rather than despair. For myself, part of the answer is going to be spiritual. Hope is more than a psychological conviction.
I was helped when recently I read some words from Franciscan sister, Ilio Delio. Delio is one of those academic thinkers who also knows a great deal about real life and can share what she knows in a context that assists all of us in the messy process of living. I think Delio is so helpful because she has been through so much. I have had the pleasure of coming to know Delio and that only increased my appreciation and respect for her.
Her career has rambled through earning a doctoral degree in the science area, being part of a couple monastic experiences, earning a doctorate in theology and settling in to being a Franciscan sister. She writes about evolution and religion and makes sense out of both of them. She knows more than I do and helps me think better about the things I already know. It is in this light that I was intrigued to learn what she thinks about hope, prayer and our lives in God.
I begin with what I consider a thoughtful way to conceive of prayer. If someone were to ask you to define prayer, I suspect many of us would come up with a fairly traditional, perhaps pious, answer. Listen to how Delio puts it. “For prayer, that deep relationship of God breathing in us, requires change and conversion.” Prayer is a deep relationship with God. It is much more than words, petitions and thank yous. It is much more profound than a plaintive, please. Prayer is what we do with God to develop a relationship that acquires depth.
Surely God is near to us. So near, in fact, Delio claims that God breathes in us. God is as intimate as our breath. Prayer is how we come to be aware of this, attend to this and appreciate it. Furthermore, Delio wants us to know, prayer will inevitably bring change. There are many ways we could explore how this change will happen to us, but again, let’s listen to her. She says,
“where there is change, there is the letting go of the old and the giving birth to the new.” Prayer will change us and change our world. But there is a price. We will have to let go of the old and give birth to the new.
Letting go of the old may seem like an easy thing to do. But much of this will entail moving beyond our own ego desires. Letting go means we are willing to share the steering wheel of our lives. We are willing to give up some control---to give us always getting what we want. In fact, prayer will change what we want. Our wants become aligned with the desires of God. Our desires conjoin the desires of God for justice and love in our world. Willingly, we become servants.
This leads Delio, next, to assure us that “To pray is to be open to the new, to the future in God.” This is where real hope enters the picture. We don’t hope any longer in our own strengths and convictions. We hope in the future that God opens to us. We discern our own path into that future. We become able to pray with Jesus, “Thy will be done.” We become satisfied---sometimes for the first time in our lives.
Finally, Delio finds a way to connect prayer, hope and love. She notes that “The way to life passes through change and ultimately the change from death to life. Prayer is the way to life because in prayer we are invited to change and to grow in love.” Once again, we note that praying will change us. We do well to remember that she takes evolution seriously. And so, it even plays a role in our lives; but we likely already knew that. Prayer helps us constructively participate in evolution.
In prayer through hope we participate in the change from death to life. And we learn that prayer is the way to life where we will grow in love. At the beginning if offered a chance to grow in love, we would jump at that chance. Likely, it would not have occurred to us that this growth happens through prayer. So many of us have tried so many other things. Other things are not bad. And they may well bring some forms of growth in love.
The deepest and most profound way is through prayer. I appreciate my friend showing me how to do it.
I do know that hope is one of those things which is easy to talk about as an idea, but every one of us knows hope is as much a feeling as it is an idea. I can imagine being in despair, while holding forth in a conversation about hope! I am always looking for ways to sharpen how I think about it, how to cultivate it and, more importantly, how to live a life grounded in hope, rather than despair. For myself, part of the answer is going to be spiritual. Hope is more than a psychological conviction.
I was helped when recently I read some words from Franciscan sister, Ilio Delio. Delio is one of those academic thinkers who also knows a great deal about real life and can share what she knows in a context that assists all of us in the messy process of living. I think Delio is so helpful because she has been through so much. I have had the pleasure of coming to know Delio and that only increased my appreciation and respect for her.
Her career has rambled through earning a doctoral degree in the science area, being part of a couple monastic experiences, earning a doctorate in theology and settling in to being a Franciscan sister. She writes about evolution and religion and makes sense out of both of them. She knows more than I do and helps me think better about the things I already know. It is in this light that I was intrigued to learn what she thinks about hope, prayer and our lives in God.
I begin with what I consider a thoughtful way to conceive of prayer. If someone were to ask you to define prayer, I suspect many of us would come up with a fairly traditional, perhaps pious, answer. Listen to how Delio puts it. “For prayer, that deep relationship of God breathing in us, requires change and conversion.” Prayer is a deep relationship with God. It is much more than words, petitions and thank yous. It is much more profound than a plaintive, please. Prayer is what we do with God to develop a relationship that acquires depth.
Surely God is near to us. So near, in fact, Delio claims that God breathes in us. God is as intimate as our breath. Prayer is how we come to be aware of this, attend to this and appreciate it. Furthermore, Delio wants us to know, prayer will inevitably bring change. There are many ways we could explore how this change will happen to us, but again, let’s listen to her. She says,
“where there is change, there is the letting go of the old and the giving birth to the new.” Prayer will change us and change our world. But there is a price. We will have to let go of the old and give birth to the new.
Letting go of the old may seem like an easy thing to do. But much of this will entail moving beyond our own ego desires. Letting go means we are willing to share the steering wheel of our lives. We are willing to give up some control---to give us always getting what we want. In fact, prayer will change what we want. Our wants become aligned with the desires of God. Our desires conjoin the desires of God for justice and love in our world. Willingly, we become servants.
This leads Delio, next, to assure us that “To pray is to be open to the new, to the future in God.” This is where real hope enters the picture. We don’t hope any longer in our own strengths and convictions. We hope in the future that God opens to us. We discern our own path into that future. We become able to pray with Jesus, “Thy will be done.” We become satisfied---sometimes for the first time in our lives.
Finally, Delio finds a way to connect prayer, hope and love. She notes that “The way to life passes through change and ultimately the change from death to life. Prayer is the way to life because in prayer we are invited to change and to grow in love.” Once again, we note that praying will change us. We do well to remember that she takes evolution seriously. And so, it even plays a role in our lives; but we likely already knew that. Prayer helps us constructively participate in evolution.
In prayer through hope we participate in the change from death to life. And we learn that prayer is the way to life where we will grow in love. At the beginning if offered a chance to grow in love, we would jump at that chance. Likely, it would not have occurred to us that this growth happens through prayer. So many of us have tried so many other things. Other things are not bad. And they may well bring some forms of growth in love.
The deepest and most profound way is through prayer. I appreciate my friend showing me how to do it.
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