As I was considering what I might share with you this morning concerning moving hope into action, I read the article by Margaret Wheatley that was recommended to us, entitled “The Place Beyond Fear and Hope”. As a Dominican of Hope, called to live, preach and witness our charism of hope, the title intrigued me. I don’t know how many of you had the opportunity to read her article, but Margaret’s fundamental thesis is that hope is all about envisioning, planning strategies and working hard to bring about specific changes or outcomes for creating a better world. She claims, however, that such hope immediately gives rise to the fear of failure. She says, and I quote, “Motivated by hope, but then confronted by failure, we become depressed and demoralized... Rather than inspiring and motivating us, hope has become a burden, made heavy by its companion, fear of failing. So, (she continues,) we have to abandon hope, all of us, and learn how to find that place beyond hope and fear.”

Now, if what she says is true, then we have made a big mistake, and need to start over, change our name and our charism - and our faith itself. As one who is celebrating 50 years of religious life, especially the last 15 as a Dominican of HOPE, living and ministering in the hope of God’s purposes and promises coming to fulfillment, if Margaret’s assertion regarding the worthlessness of hope is true, that would truly be depressing and cause for despair!! But, in fact, it was precisely the absence of any reference to God or our faith in her article that immediately clarified for me the definitive difference between her understanding of hope, and ours. She speaks of hope in purely human terms, more expressive of what I would call ego-driven expectations or optimism.

- Gospel ‘hope’, on the other hand, is inextricably connected with, and grounded in faith - that is, in our unshakable belief in a God who is life and love, the source and author of all that exists. We believe that this God who is love, and the source of all life, will - through love - bring all of her/his purposes and promises to fulfillment. Our role is to live our lives in a manner that helps to bring about the world that God desires. The outcome of our efforts is God’s concern, not ours. Our hope does not rest in the expectation or guarantee that we will succeed in our endeavors according to the world’s definition of success.

- This is clearly illustrated by the fact that Jesus’ own mission ended with his death as a criminal, leaving behind only a handful of frightened disciples, some of whom denied or abandoned him. According to worldly standards, Jesus would be judged a colossal failure.

- Yet, as we so recently celebrated, God raised Jesus from the dead. Hatred and death did not have the final word. Jesus’ resurrection is the foundation of our hope that in the end, life and love will prevail. Two thousand years later, the revelation of God’s ways as incarnated in Jesus (namely, Christianity) flourishes throughout the world.

But this has not come about easily, painlessly or quickly. The growth and spread of Christianity down through history has been fraught with problems, challenges, setbacks, mistakes, sin and much suffering. And this has been the case from the very beginning. Consider for a moment our readings of this Easter season.

- Mary Magdalen, nearly drowning in her grief and despair after jesus’ death, is filled with new hope when she encounters the Risen Christ. But immediately afterwards she experiences disappointment and failure in her effort to proclaim this wondrous news to the male disciples, whose own prejudice and lack of faith cause them to reject her announcement.

- The death of Jesus causes Thomas, along with the 2 disciples from Emmaus, to lose faith and hope until all three of them experience a restoration of faith accompanied by a renewed hope through their personal encounters with Jesus.

- But that certainly didn’t mean that their lives would be trouble-free from then on. They and the other disciples would face decades of persecution and suffering as they attempt to proclaim this world-transforming event; and they, along with hundreds of other believers, would ultimately lose their lives in the effort.

We do not have hope, then, because we feel certain concerning the successful outcome of our work. We have hope because of who we believe God to be. Our hope is rooted in God, not in our own plans, programs and efforts. And that is the crucial difference between Margaret Wheatley’s understanding of hope, and ours.

Ironically, whereas I reject Margaret Wheatley’s contention that we must give up hope if we are to sustain our efforts to change the world for the better, I agree with her assertion that hope rooted solely in the expectation of a successful outcome to our endeavors, will certainly lead to discouragement and despair. But hope grounded in our faith in the God revealed to us in and through Jesus will sustain us through every difficulty, setback and seeming failure.

- And again, I agree with Margaret’s conclusion that we must live in the present, committed to choosing right action because it is the right thing to do, regardless of the outcome. However I don’t believe that that alone is a sufficiently compelling motivation to sustain the vast majority of people in working to build a better world. Real hope is not about working to achieve our goals; about enjoying feelings of power, control and success regarding the outcome of our endeavors. Real hope, I believe, means striving to discern God’s purposes for us and our world, and courageously choosing and acting in accord with those purposes, regardless of the outcome - but confident that God’s love will ultimately prevail whether we live to see it or not.

As a Dominican, trying to live and witness our charism of hope, I rejoice in the resurrection of Christ because I believe he is both with us and goes before us - and if we walk faithfully with Christ, we will indeed experience the truth and power of God’s promise to the Jewish exiles and all who strive to live in fidelity to the covenant - that is, the promise of a future full of hope, and we will ultimately experience our own resurrection into the fullness of God; we will have come home to the God we name HOPE.