The prophet Isaiah has a vision of a world turned upside down, a world in which the deaf will hear the words of a book and the arid land of Lebanon will turn into a bountiful orchard and a lush forest, a world in which the arrogant and the tyrant will not have a place. We place our trust and hope in the Lord of justice, love, and mercy that are embodied in this vision from the prophet Isaiah. 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 while she was serving as a religious sister in the war-torn country of El Salvador: “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.” Sister Ita wrote her niece this message of hope and love in 1980 amid the challenges she herself faced as a missionary in a country torn apart by violence. 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, died as martyrs in El Salvador.
We have hope in Christ’s message of healing, mercy, and justice, but that is not always the way of the world. Yet, Christ is where we place our hope; it is what we dream of. During these beginning days of our Advent journey, in whatever reality we are facing, may we never lose hope in the values we are to proclaim in our faith.
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