Liturgy of the Hours Increases Hope

For the past few weeks, I've been praying Morning and Evening Prayer from Liturgy of the Hours. I'm finding it gives me a big infusion of hope despite my pessimism for the future of the United States. Take today's Morning Prayer. The first psalm (87) reminds us that it's the Lord who builds the city and gives each of us our place in it. The psalm prayer harks back to Jesus weeping over Jerusalem,  "soon to be destroyed for its lack of faith." But Holy Mother Church doesn't leave us with that gloomy picture. She tells us, "He established the new Jerusalem firmly upon rock and made it the mother of the faithful" leading us to "rejoice in [our] Church."

The Canticle (Isaiah 40) shows us the power of God "who rules by his strong arm." He is no tyrant like so many worldly leaders, but a loving God. "Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs." We have nothing to fear because it's He "Who has cupped in his hand the waters of the sea...Who has held in a measure the dust of the earth....Behold, the nations count as a drop of the bucket, as rust on the scales; the coastlands weigh no more than powder." Yes those blue "coastlands" on our eastern and western shores and all the nations of the earth "are as nought, as nothing and void he accounts them."

So, let us never stop fighting the Culture of Death, but neither should we let the state of the world get us down. As Psalm 99 and its antiphon remind us today, "The Lord is king....He is throned on the cherubim; the earth quakes....He is holy, full of power."

And for the faithful who persevere, "The Lord, the mighty conqueror, will come; he will bring with him the prize of victory."

God will never abandon us and so, "Let us joyfully cry out in thanks to God the Father whose love guides and nourishes his people." Amen!

If you need an infusion of hope, pray the Liturgy of the Hours.