“For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.”
Romans 8:24-25
If you were asked what your greatest hope was over the next 25 days, what would be your response?
Would it be for peace at the family dinner table on Christmas? To hug a loved one you haven’t seen in years? To finally let go of the one thing that has burdened you all year? To find the greatest gift and embrace it in your heart?
Fr. Mike Schmitz’s invitation to sit with Jesus and ask him to reveal himself has been really resonating with me. This first week of Advent is focused on HOPE which from the Old English word “hopa” means to have confidence in the future.
When we enter Advent, we begin to move from the darkness of the world to the light that God puts before us. We all know this light is a baby, who has come to save us all. We realize that Jesus was born into this world and laid in a manger. We have knowledge and a visual in the nativity scenes and we will celebrate his birth on Christmas morning. But what we don’t really see is what is found in our hearts. Where Jesus truly is in our lives. I believe the hope we are invited to discover during Advent is Jesus revealing himself to us, face to face, heart to heart. Because of faith, we know that this realization is the evidence that we will undergo transformation from darkness to light, which is our hope as we prepare ourselves for sainthood and for heaven.
“If we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance”
Romans 8:25
I love Romans 8:25, “if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.” I can sit with Jesus over the next 24 days, crying out for him to reveal himself and never have that moment of revelation. But because of my faith in knowing who he is for me, I will wait for him. Because I have hope, I have confidence that he will reveal himself when he is ready and the time is perfect for me. That may be the last day of Advent.
We are in the middle of the first week of Advent. I invite you to take a few minutes and contemplate what you are hoping for when Jesus reveals himself to you during this season. Is it a bright light that blinds you? A warm heart? Joy? Peace? What are you most hopeful for?
Women Who Walk By Faith 
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