As we continue our Lenten journey, Paul stresses that God loved us while we were still weak. This is the root of a compassionate, gratuitous and hopeful apostolic presence in the geographical and existential peripheries. We do not go because everything has been resolved, but because hope is born precisely in human frailty accompanied by the faithful love of God. We do not go from strength, but from trust in a love that precedes, accompanies and sustains. Christian hope is not naive optimism: it is born of God’s love that is given to us in the midst of human frailty. Where life seems discarded, we are called to incarnate a humble presence, close and sowing hope. Our presence does not always solve problems, but it can support, accompany and open paths of hope. Sometimes, simply being there is already a sign of God’s love.
Hope does not disappoint
Brethren, since we have received justification by faith, we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand: and we boast, rejoicing in the hope of the attainment of the glory of God. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Indeed, while we were still without strength, at the appointed time, Christ died for the ungodly; indeed, there will hardly be anyone who will die for a righteous man; for a good man perhaps one would dare to die; but the proof that God loves us is that Christ, while we were still sinners, died for us. Rm 5,1-2.5-8
Priority: Presence and hope on the peripheries of the world
We observe how geographic and existential peripheries are multiplying. Despite technological and economic progress, equity and social welfare stagnate. The throwaway culture continues to marginalize many. Faced with this reality, as Daughters of Jesus, we feel called to be present with our brothers and sisters who suffer from it, contributing our grain of mustard seed according to the forces proper to the moment of life. They are not only places or social situations, but spaces in which to incarnate the living presence of Christ. Det CGXIX n. 23
Question for discernment
In what realities and in what ways do we feel today that we are called to be present to accompany life and sustain hope?
Ignatian prayer proposal
