From an interview with Rev. Brian Stiller
Hope has nothing to do with optimism. Many people think that hope is optimism, looking at the positive side of life. But Jesus doesn’t speak like that at all..He talks about enormous agony, but he says “You, you [my beloved ones] pray unceasingly that you will keep your heart focused on me. Stand with your head erect in the presence of the Son of Man. Don’t get distracted by it all. Remain focused.”
And the whole of the spiritual life is saying that God is right with us, right now, so that we can wait for his coming and this waiting is a waiting in hope. But because we wait with hope we know that what we are waiting for is already here. We have to nurture that. Here and now matters because God is a God of the present. And God is God of the present because he is God of Eternity.
Hope is to open yourself up to let God do his work in you in ways that transcend your own imagination…That’s hope, to let yourself be led to new places.
–Henri Nouwen
Here, Tim Stone, a core member who lives in Friendship House, reflects on hope and the ways that God is leading him.
How do you understand hope?
Hope means to me that you are hopeful. It is something very nice.
How do you know that God is with you right now?
I just know.
How is God leading you?
He is leading me through my life, I know because he is with me.
How is God leading L’Arche?
He is leading L’Arche through the people that are here.
What do you hope for L’Arche?
That it thrives.
How will God lead us in L’Arche in the future?
By being with us.