“Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit…” Thus, our Holy Father Pope Francis begins his announcement of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025. The gift of hope is the grace that carries us forward in difficulties, giving us confidence that we will not be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus despite the trials of this world. It is a comfort to ponder this gift of hope as we prepare ourselves for our great jubilee of 200 years since the foundation of our community in Nova Scotia. How many times did our fathers of Spencer have to renew their hope that God had a purpose and plan for their community? Hope became the anchor of their souls as they traveled from Nova Scotia to Rhode Island to Spencer. On this patronal feast of the whole Cistercian family, it is fitting that in anticipation of these great jubilees we turn to Our Lady assumed body and soul into heaven. Her steadfastness in hope in fulfilling her mission has become a “sign of sure hope and solace for the pilgrim people of God”, especially her Cistercian sons and daughters.
Our Lady understands well the saying of St. Paul that “hope does not disappoint…” She hoped against hope that there would be a fulfillment to what the Lord had spoken to her. She had a mission from God, and she waited patiently as it unfolded. What was her mission? I think it was to reveal the fulness of motherhood, both in body and soul: first, in the physical motherhood of her Son and then in the spiritual motherhood of everyone who encounters her Son and follows him. When her mission on earth was completed and her hope was absorbed in fulfillment, by her mother’s love, which is stronger than death, she guides her children to fulfill their mission in life in patient hope. This is her greatest happiness: to see her children fulfill their God-given vocations. And she knows that this will be our greatest happiness as well. She is the sign of hope that God will bring to completion the work he has begun in us.
But what exactly is the mission that God has planned for us? Our Lady lays it out in her Magnificat. It is to proclaim the greatness of the Lord in the daily rounds of our divine office. It is to rejoice in our lowliness and “humbly regard others as more important than” ourselves. It is to gather with our brothers at work, at lectio, at meals where Jesus is present in our midst. At the same time, our mission is to allow God to cast down the mighty pretensions of our hearts. It is to allow him to scatter the proud thoughts that rise up in our conceits. It is to empty the rich coffers that we use to keep our distance from one another. Finally, it is Our Lady’s desire is that we carry in our hearts a salutary fear of the Lord which complements the virtue of hope. This is the mission Our Lady so ardently wants us to accomplish for our happiness.
The Most Holy Trinity has assumed Our Lady body and soul into heavenly glory to show us that hope does not disappoint us as it did not disappoint her. As we prepare for the great jubilees ahead, let us turn to Our Lady to ask for the gift of perseverance, for she is our life, our sweetness, and our hope, and the star that leads us to Christ Jesus our hope.
