Hope and the heart

Grace is nothing less than God sharing divine with us, the very same life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The essence of the divine life is love. Hence, we are givers of grace whenever we put others before ourselves, just as Jesus Christ did over and again. Indeed, as Msgr. Giussani taught us "the affirmation of Another [is] the meaning of the self" (Is It Possible, vol 2, pg 97). This Other, of course, is Christ, who came to reveal our true identities as children of God by rebirth in baptism. Each day of this octave the liturgy reminds over and over of our baptism and the call that arises from our dying and rising to new life in imitation of our Lord.

I have been struggling hard with something. It is not a big thing to anyone but me. Yesterday, as I was really struggling, feeling hurt and angry, the Lord gave me a word: where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21). I was laying in bed later, having just finished evening prayer, when I felt that I needed to pick up Is It Possible to Live This Way?: An Unusual Approach to Christian Existence, vol. 2, which we are reading in School of Community. We are still on chapter 2, which is about the need for poverty, for detachment. Too often I put my hope where it does not belong. Our hope is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth and in no one and nothing else, unless I want to see my hope turn to ashes in my hands.