Keys to the Kingdom: To hope without limits

THE WORD IN ADVENT - December 19 

Judges 13: 2-7, 24-25; Luke 1: 5-25  

Two women, considered and categorised as 'barren', miraculously bear their firstborns, dedicate them to the Lord! The two newborns even before they were conceived were meant to be God's messengers! Let us say we have clear cut examples of - 'I chose you before you were born, from your mother's womb, when you were being formed in there!'

What the world considers impossible, the Lord proves possible; what the world cannot even think of, the Lord has planned from eternity and executes in God's own time. The coming of the Lord towards which we are preparing ourselves was punctuated with such events - virgin conceived, name pre-announced, infant saved...how many events we shall be recalling - all of them hope inspiring! The Reign too is a similar perspective of life: that of hope without limits.

When moments seem troublesome and weary, dark and dreary, confusing and out of control... we tend to give up hope, become desperate and fall into the danger of hopelessness! With the sense of desperation, one can miss the most obvious and grand signs of the magnificence of God that appears on a daily basis! 

The key that is offered today is a direct warning against hopelessness or desperation. it is to hope without limits, in the greatness of the Lord. It is Hope that will make the Reign present for a battered world.