Dear Parishioner,

“Hope?” so the old joke goes, “ok, you have two hopes:  no hope and Bob Hope.”

In the first reading Philip, a deacon, ignoring deep-seated prejudices between Jews and Samaritans, brings the gospel message of hope to Samaria, so fulfilling Jesus’ command to spread the Gospel beyond Judaea.  This is at a time of great persecution throughout the church, and Philip is using the opportunity to turn disaster into something which will offer hope. 

It is certainly difficult to account for hope in the face of persecution.  Denis McBride shares the following story:  the scene is a courtyard in a prison.  The time is dawn.  The prisoner is led out to be shot:  he is a priest who is sentenced to death because he opposed his country’s policy of slave trade in its colony.  As he stands against an outer wall he faces seven members of the firing squad, all his own countrymen.  Before the blindfold is put on, the prisoner is asked for the traditional last request, and he replies that he wants to play his flute one last time. 

The firing squad is stood at ease as they wait for the prisoner to play and soon the courtyard is filled with music that sounds all the more beautiful in this place of death.  The officer in charge becomes uneasy because the more the music goes on, the more absurd his task appears to be.  He orders the music to stop, ties the blindfold, and he gives his men the command to fire.  The priest dies instantly.  But the music lingers on to the puzzle of his executioners:  in the face of certain death, where does the music come from?

In todays’ second reading the early Christian community is told that their conduct should be such that their persecutors will be put to shame: “Always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have.”

When people face persecution, hope, along with truth, is often one of the first casualties which is why hope in the face of violent death is deeply puzzling to many people.  But hope is the virtue that allows us to look to the future with confidence.  When Jesus left his disciples, he had no intention of abandoning them to the point where they are left no hope without any help. He promises the Spirit, the Advocate, who will be with them forever.  Without that, they would be left to their own devices which would prove hopeless and inadequate. Jesus’ promise is of course extended to all of us in our own struggle in faith, and that is why we are called on to pray again for a renewal of the Spirit at Pentecost.  With that Spirit in us we can continue the ancient Christian practice of puzzling people with the hope that is in us.

Deacon Alex