Hope!

In Italy, today is the Day of the Kiss. What a beautiful day to share a kiss. Kisses bring joy, elevate good hormones and make grandmas, grandpas, babies and grouches crack a smile. Smiling is joy, joy is the sister of hope. All good and beautiful things, so by all means take a break and go kiss someone you love.

"The Lovers II" Rene Magritte, 1928 (Perhaps they were still scared of the Spanish flu...hence masking la face)

In this neck of the woods I had a pleasant surprise I am happy to announce: Father Dan and Kevin Wells have decided to gift us their time on Podcasts till Pentecost! This last podcast was perhaps my favorite because it featured the topic of hope discussed by Sister Margie.

Sister Margie Cheong, Mother Superior

 What is hope? Well, it is one of the three cardinal virtues along with love and faith and we should practice hoping. I was thinking about that as I stirred water and yeast into some flour.... "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough", says Galatians 5:9 in the Bible so wouldn't  a little hope which is a virtue also give rise to the lump of hope in our lives and those around us?  I don't know about you but hope this past year has been pretty dismal. In fact, if you felt you were flying high on the wings of hope there is a good chance that bird of hope got torn to shreds through different outlets. 

A little hope shredded to death

The biggest killer of hope has been King Covid. Like King Kong, he has been a menace but worse. 

"CORONAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" you can see him yell

Yes, he has ravaged streets, he arrived in our ports, beat his fury corona chest and stomped into each city, each town, each TV program, each church, school and even cozy bookclubs terrifying everyone out of their wits. One year ago people wrestled each other for toilet paper, it was sheer panic.

Terrifying thought

No toilet paper to be found in the cavernous isles...

A great mother's day gift for mom. Also comes in rose gold, silver and is ethically sourced.

 While we have been hunkering away from the fierce King Covid, and respecting his every demand, there has been a demise to faith, hope and love...for today, hope.

What do you hope for? What is your biggest hope these days? 

I hope for_______________

Was that a sigh I just heard? Yeah....it has been hard to hope, I get it. King Covid has touched something that is precious to us as children of a good Father: hope. If your hope is that Covid ends and things go back to normal...is that a good hope to have? Was normal so good for us? Is hoping for this to all go away really what we are created to do? How would that give rise to the bread in our life? 

The beginning of bread...

As I was listening to Sr Margie Cheong and Fr Dan in this week's podcast I thought of these very normal people bringing an unconceivable amount of hope to 20,000 children at the schools for World Villages for Children. I know Fr Dan well as he was my parish priest and walked through so many life challenges with my family and many families I know. He is as normal as they come, doesn't come with any frills, but is incredibly abnormal because of strict self-discipline and a willingness to be self-sacrificial of his desires to follow the virtues of faith, hope and love and bring those to each person he comes in contact with. 

I keep thinking about my bread rising and asking myself who am I bringing hope to? What am I doing to help people kick off the burden of fear of death to see the hope of life? You see, the two can't dance together. This fear of death is crippling the hope of life in each and every way possible. For example, there is a vaccine, Johnson and Johnson, where someone has to die (lab replicated fetal cells = baby killed) in order for their cells to be used to give someone else the hope of possibly living longer, possibly because it isn't even sure it totally works. That contrast doesn't work because it is an acclamation that my life is more worthy than the life that was killed so that I may potentially live.

This is only one example of fear of death crippling the hope of life. Father Dan and the Sisters of Mary have continued to go into homes of incredibly impoverished children to bring them hope with an education in their boarding schools and hope in the next life with God the Father. They are very few: 385 sisters to 20,000 students. I would say that is a little yeast making the whole dough rise.

 What kind of yeast are you capable of making your dough rise? Do you know what kind of dough you are capable of rising? "I don't even know if I am capable, worthy, deserving to bring others hope." discouragement might tell you. Hogwash I say. You are created for love, by a loving Father and have been put in your unique family to touch them, in your unique place of employment to inspire them, in your unique neighborhood to feed people the love of God. If you have been given the gift of being in contact with more people, guess what? You have been given a big gift of yeast for that ball of dough, use it powerfully. 

Your dough might be crooked

Or complicated

Or perfectionists

One thing I love about yeast is that it thrives on honey. A little drop of honey in my bread yeast will make that yeast work some serious magic. Lesson? Your yeast will do better with sweetness, your natural charm which I know you have and is a gift. 

Pray for hope

You can give it to others

On the other hand, too much salt in dough will not let the bread rise. Think about it, if you are salty, bitter, harsh or distressful to others, will you help yourself or them rise with the virtue of hope?

This week, write down who your dough is: your own mind, mom, dad, friend, volunteer person, and what kind of hope you can bring them: a card, a visit (don't be shy), playing the violin for them on the phone or outside of their house, or best of all a forehead kiss (hey, it is Kiss Day in Italy).

Enjoy the podcast! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaOaLq_o4s4