Daily Meditation for February 7, 2023

This past January, we had a community retreat focused on hope. With all the difficult situations in our lives, in the world, and in the Church, it seems impossible to be people of hope. But, hope is a deep conviction that love, peace and joy are what God intends for all. Hope is expecting and waiting for the future that God intends. It is living with the conviction that God’s dream for humankind is coming—is here. A prime example of that is a statement that the president of Ukraine made after the January 15 Russian missile strike on a large apartment complex. President Zelenskyy said, “We will not lose hope.” Hope is waiting for the reality that good things will come from bad. People who live in hope become radiant with joy. God’s dream for the future is coming —is present—with hope we expect it and wait for it.

By Marlene Meierhofer, OSB