Today, we hear in the second reading, “We boast in hope of the glory of God. And hope does not disappoint.” 

Hope does not disappoint. We read this, and yet how many times does it seem we’ve been disappointed by hope? Maybe we were hoping to get a job that we didn’t get, or hoping a conflict would be resolved by this point, or hoping that we’d have made more progress on a certain part of our life. Maybe we worked really hard for something, and it didn’t end up being as fulfilling as we had hoped. 

But these are all hope in OUR plans. The hope Paul talks about is different—it’s the hope of the glory of God.

Two years ago, I took English 114, an introductory writing seminar. Each 114 section had its own topic around which readings and writings were centered. The topic of mine was hope. At the end of the semester, we each had to come up with our own definitions of the word, and I wrote “Hope is the fundamental belief that the present circumstance can get better, and that possibility is something worth fighting for.” Hope is the fundamental belief that we are made for more than just what is known on this earth. We are made for reunion with Christ in heaven, and that is worth fighting for.

If we are brave enough to put hope in Christ above anything else, to trust in his plan over our own, to let go of the things onto which we grasp so tightly, we will not be disappointed. It did not disappoint Moses, and it did not disappoint the woman at the well. Hope does not disappoint.