The need for hope

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In today's first reading from Isaiah, the Lord says, ''Now I create new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered.'' We are well aware of all the wars that have caused so much death and destruction in the past and little has changed today. When Jesus himself was asked to teach his disciples to pray he taught them the Our Father. One of the main christian virtues is hope and each time we pray the Lord's prayer we pray in hope that God's Kingdom of peace will become a reality in the lives of all those victims of war and oppression today. The gospel from John 4:43-54 gives us an example of hope fulfilled. A court official comes to Jesus asking him to cure his son who is close to death. Jesus tells him to go home as his son will live. The official trusts Jesus and returns home to find that his son was cured at the exact time that Jesus said he would be. Like the court official let us continue to pray in the hope that God's prophecy of a new heaven and a new earth will come about in our time. In Brasil we often sang a hymn with those very words, '' A new earth and a new heaven will arrive and all will share their plate of food.'' Finally a government was elected that supported the poor and needy. Let us also do all we can to make God's new world present in our own families and communities. 'May your Kingdom come and give your daily bread to all those who are without food today.