“Hoping is the hard part (said in a low voice and shamefully) The easy thing is to despair and this is the big temptation”.
These are the words of the French poet Péguy, who in the famous poem, The Porch of the Mystery of the Second Virtue deals with hope, the “little sister of faith and charity”.
The bewildered question of John the Baptist: «Are you the one who has to come or we have to wait for another?” (Mt 11: 3) initially presents us with a tried hope. The Nazarene gives mercy to sinners, he sits at the table with the tax collectors and prostitutes. Perhaps it is precisely this excess of mercy that is disorienting to John. And it is understandable, because it is not easy to believe in God’s mercy when one is a victim of the arrogance of the wicked or the triumphant wicked. The expectation of the Forerunner, as it appears in his preaching, is different from its fulfilment by Jesus. But in his answer, Jesus makes John understand that hope is nourished through a prophetic gaze on history. Also the song by James (Jas 5: 7-10) speaks of patient waiting. Twice he remembers that the Lord is now near. But be careful: imminence is not chronological but theological. We have certainty that the Lord will come; this is a given of faith. Neither the day nor the hour is known, but only that the waiting must be lived in brotherly love.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Santa Maria – Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey