The prophet Isaiah has vision of a world turned upside down - the deaf will hear the words of a book and the arid land of Lebanon will be turned into an bountiful orchard and a forest. It is a world in which the arrogant and the tyrant will not have a place. We place our trust and hope in the Lord, in his justice, love, and mercy that are embodied in this vision that Isaiah has. And yet, as we follow God’s path for us in life, as we try to proclaim God’s justice and mercy, we may encounter opposition, hostility, or violence. Maryknoll Sister Ita Ford wrote this in a letter to her niece. Sister Ita was serving as a religious sister in the war-torn country of El Salvador at the time. “I hope you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you. Something worth living for — maybe even worth dying for, something that energizes you, enables you to keep moving ahead. I can’t tell you what it might be — that’s for you to find, to choose, to love. I can just encourage you to start looking and support you in the search.” What a message of hope and love. That letter was written in 1980. On today’s date of that year - December 2, 1980 - Sister Ita along with lay missionary Jean Donovan, Maryknoll Sister Maura Clarke, and Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, were savagely murdered as martyrs, victimized for the Good News of Jesus Christ that they proclaimed. We have hope in Christ’s message of healing, mercy, and justice, but that is not always the way of the world. Yet, that is where we tenaciously place our hope. That is what we dream of. During this Advent journey, in whatever reality we are facing, may we never lose hope in the values we are to proclaim.
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