Hope

3rd Sunday of Advent
Cycle A
Is 35:1-6a,10
Ps 146:6-7,8-9,9-10
Jas 5:7-10
Mt 11:2-11

Last Thursday we celebrated the feast of St. Juan Diego, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002. Juan Diego had been declared Venerable in 1987. Under normal circumstances, for someone to be beatified there must be a miracle that has been thoroughly studied and approved by the Congregation for Causes and Saints and accepted by the Holy Father. In the case of Juan Diego, John Paul II decided to beatify him without the approved miracle. There was a miracle for his canonization, however. And it is quite a story.

Juan Jose Barragan Silva, of Mexico City, had been a drug addict since he was a teenager. He and his mother had been abandoned by his father when Juan Jose was young. On May 3rd, 1990 Juan Jose got drunk and high on marijuana with a friend, then went home and started to cut himself on the head with a knife. His mother, Esperanza, tried to get the knife away but failed. She implored him to stop abusing himself and give up the alcohol and pot. He shouted that he didn’t want to live any more. Juan Jose threw himself off the balcony of their third floor apartment.

In that moment, Esperanza had a “flash”. Knowing that Pope John Paul was to be in Mexico for the beatification of Juan Diego, she called on Juan Diego to intercede for her son. The hope of a mother springs eternal.

Juan Jose fell about 30 feet and landed on his head on the concrete pavement. He was bleeding heavily from the mouth, nose and ears. They covered him, thinking he was dead. He suddenly sat up, rose and went to the stairs leading to his apartment. On meeting his mother coming down the stairs he asked for her forgiveness. They embraced and remained that way for another ten minutes or so before the ambulance came.

The prognosis was very pessimistic. The doctor later explained that it was incomprehensible that he was still alive. They did tests and found that he had fractured his skull, had a large hemotoma that extended from the front of his skull to the back of his neck, lacerations of the neck muscles, intracranial bleeding and air in his cranial cavity. He was given the last rites. Yet he continued to live.

The first four days he was sedated. On the fifth, doctors found that his pupils were no longer fixed and that he could move his arms and legs. On the sixth day he was released from the ICU to a regular ward. On the seventh day his feeding tube was removed. He was released on the tenth day after the fall. Subsequent tests by neurologists and other specialists showed a total recovery. Juan Jose also gave up his drug habit and started school.

It seems that his change of condition came on 6 May at the very time John Paul II was beatifying Juan Diego. The decree concerning this miracle was promulgated on 20 December 2001. Pope John Paul II canonized St. Juan Diego on July 31, 2002.

If we do not believe in miracles, we do not ask for them. If we do not ask for them, they will not be granted. Juan Jose’s mother never gave up hope for him. Even through his substance abuse and attempted suicide, she never gave up hope for her son. Her name was Esperanza, the Spanish word for hope.

Most of us never have to live through such a dramatic situation as Esperanza. Most of us don’t have to deal with such despair. But many of us do. When we find ourselves in desperate situations in life, we have a choice to make. Either we can cling to hope, however feeble it may be, or we can give into despair. There’re really no other choices. We can either turn our trust to God, or we can abandon him and abandon hope.

The ancient Israelites had their share of hopeless situations. The prophet Isaiah, who we hear from in today’s first reading, was writing to a people who were about to be besieged and wiped out by the Assyrian army. The king, Hezekiah, put his trust in an alliance with the Egyptians. Isaiah enjoined him to trust in the Lord and be strong instead. He writes today:

Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.

Hezekiah didn’t listen. And the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed. The Israelites had a way of ignoring God’s prophets and putting themselves in hopeless situations. But the prophets always gave them a message of hope. Isaiah’s message of hope was fulfilled in today’s gospel. Jesus doesn’t come right out and tell John the Baptist that he is the Messiah. Instead he points to Isaiah’s promise of hope made seven hundred years earlier. He gave John proof of God’s faithfulness by his actions, not just with words.

We celebrate another story of hope today, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The opening of the New World by the Spanish brought with it both fortune-seekers and preachers wanting to convert the native populations to the Christian faith, by force, if necessary. Many of the natives were treated very cruelly by their conquerors. On December 12, 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared and spoke tenderly to another one of her sons, Juan Diego:

“Hear and let it penetrate into your heart, my dear little son. Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance. Also do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need?”

One would be hard pressed to find more comforting words to someone in despair; they are positively riveting given their intimate connection with the miraculous image of Mary imprinted on Juan Diego’s tilma, the same image that hangs on the wall of this church.

The power of Mary’s reassuring words is magnified by the fact that they came the day after Juan Diego did not follow through with his promise to meet Mary again at the appointed time and place. He had spent that day tending to his gravely sick uncle. Knowing that he just blew off the Queen of Heaven, though, he decided to take a shortcut to his destination the next day in order to avoid her. Haven’t we all, knowing our own shortcomings, or facing the hardships and demands that come with faith in Christ, taken shortcuts in one form or another? He was nonetheless greeted by Our Lady and heard these soothing words – even after she had explicitly told him earlier: “Do not forget me.”

The Blessed Mother understands our humanity and stands ready to shower us with her maternal love. Our Lady said she came to give all her love and protection to the people, to hear their weeping, and “alleviate all their multiple sufferings.” There could scarcely be a more inviting and urgent message for an anxious, secular age – particularly one that has forgotten what matters most.

So let us rejoice on this Gaudete Sunday as we light the rose colored candle of hope. For no matter how unfaithful we are to God, God will always be faithful to us.