The Unbearable Tension of Hope

The essay below was published in the October issue of Give Us This Day as commentary on this week’s lectionary — especially the readings from Romans on Monday and Tuesday, but also looking forward to the celebrations of All Saints and All Souls on Wednesday and Thursday.

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I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed. (Rom 8:18)

St. Paul was a master of opposites. I can remember my New Testament professor making wonderful lists of Pauline opposites on a chalkboard, back when chalkboards were a thing. What a wonderful list he would have made (and probably did!) with the readings we have this week from Romans 8 (Monday and Tuesday). In Column A, we have this present time, characterized by: flesh, death, spirit of slavery, fear, and suffering. In Column B, we have what is to be revealed, with its corresponding opposites: Spirit, life, spirit of adoption, hope, and glory. I can almost hear the spirited scratch of chalk and see those dust particles flying!

Although Paul suffered plenty of rejection as a preacher, there is a reason his gospel took hold and still speaks to us today. Paul knew all too well that suspended feeling each of us experiences every day of our lives—the “eager expectation,” the waiting, the endurance, the groaning—the way it feels to live in both columns.

Paul’s gospel was about hope. Not a shallow hope meant to numb or appease, but a “prophet-who-has-seen-the-Promised-Land” kind of hope, a living witness. Paul’s understanding of salvation was primarily apocalyptic; he was convinced that the present and the future intersect and collide. The present time is moving inexorably toward a future that is rich and overflowing with glory. In the meantime, we “groan.” And yet! In the meantime, we already taste God’s glory as children of God who live in a time of incredible promise: as “joint heirs with Christ” we will inherit everything Christ himself has inherited. The first inheritance is resurrected life.

Paul’s opposites express the almost unbearable tension of this apocalyptic hope. Although salvation is playing out in our lives every day, indeed every moment, it has not played out in its fullness. Not yet. But if one column of our chalk­board list could be etched in gold, it would be Column B, with its one foot firmly in the present and its full lean into an abundant future. Indeed, Paul insists that “the sufferings of this present time” are “as nothing” (“a small price to pay,” translates Brendan Byrne, SJ). Elsewhere Paul insists that “this slight momentary affliction” will yield “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor 4:17).

Sometimes the “sufferings of this present time” overwhelm us. Death, fear, and futility still have their way with us. And yet it is Paul’s vision—one that was acquired, let’s not forget, on a dusty road to Damascus when he encountered the Risen One in a blaze of light—that sustains us. The “glory to be revealed” is none other than our own transformative encoun­ters with God as joint heirs of the Risen Lord—a glory we can already see, taste, and touch, but which we do not yet fully experience.

The saints and souls we celebrate on Wednesday (All Saints) and Thursday (All Souls) are living witnesses of this light-filled vision. Having lived the opposites, they are icons of the hope etched in gold—a hallmark of Paul’s gospel and of every Christian life.

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Amy Ekeh, from the October 2023 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2023). Used with permission.

Postscript: My New Testament professor was Fr. Frank Matera at The Catholic University of America, now retired in my home diocese, the Archdiocese of Hartford, where I’m blessed to see him regularly. He taught me so much about reading the New Testament, and I continue to count on his mentorship and friendship.

Lean into the Yearning: A Reflection for the Fourth Week in Advent

The following reflection refers to the Mass readings found here.

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The Bible can be a heartbreaking book. It’s about people, after all. Every story, every narrative, every parable—they may surprise and puzzle us, they may challenge us, but they always speak to something deep within us. We know these stories. We live them every day.

Today’s readings tell the stories of two couples who yearned so hard for something they did not have. They had no child. The painful word used to describe this situation is “barren.” We all know what barren means. It means lifeless, desolate, empty, dry. It means hopeless. It means heartbreak.

The yearning of the wife of Manoah, of Elizabeth and Zechariah, we feel it deep in our gut. We have all yearned this hard and come up barren. We have all felt dry and desolate. Barrenness is not only about the presence or absence of children. It is about being human. It is about yearning.

The sacred answer that emerges from this barrenness is the promise of divine faithfulness. And whether the promise is for children or salvation, it always leads to new life. This story of longing and fulfillment, of desiring and promising, of palpable need and abundant gift, is the story of the Bible from creation to gospel—from the barren earth, void and lifeless, to the incarnation, God-literally-with-us.

As Advent leans toward Christmas, we lean even harder into this yearning. And just there—on the horizon, where the days begin to lengthen—we can see it: a child is born, the fulfillment of all our yearning.

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Amy Ekeh, “Lean into the Yearning” from the December 2022 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2022). Used with permission.

A sun dog on a wintry day in central Minnesota. Photo by Hans Christoffersen.

A Marian Reflection

Hello, all! And happy Feast of the Birth of Mary! I’m sorry I’ve been out of touch and not blogging for some time. I hope to get back on track with monthly posts. In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy this reflection. I originally wrote it for the Assumption of Mary, but I thought it was appropriate for the Birth of Mary also, the day her body made its appearance. Blessings!

The Body of a Life Well Lived

Blessed as she was among women, Mary’s day-to-day life was much like everyone else’s—a life that no doubt took its toll on the body. Scars, sunspots, wrinkles—she would not have escaped them. And why would she want to? Life tells its sto­ries and leaves its beautiful marks on every body.

Like you, I’ve lived into every scar on my body. I’ve earned these wrinkles! Every sunspot is a part of my story—a story of long childhood days in the Texas sun, of every moment I can squeeze into my backyard garden. Every ache and pain is a reminder that I’ve birthed children, carried them on my hip long past when I should have, hauled baskets of laundry up and down basement steps for decades, bent my knees infinity-plus-one times for weeds, socks, and Legos.

My body hasn’t been through as much as Mary’s, working as she did in heat and sun, carrying water, walking great distances, toughing out pain. But it has its own good stories to tell.

Mary always goes before us—but not to show us how dif­ferent she is. Sometimes the likenesses are what prod us for­ward, to know what it really means to be Marian. Clothed with the sun, the moon at her feet, crowned with stars—sun­tanned, vibrant, aging, loved—the body of a life well lived.

She goes before us, body and soul, and we will follow. In heaven as on earth, our bodies will tell their stories.

Amy Ekeh, “The Body of a Life Well Lived,” from the August 2022 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2022). Used with permission.

All Souls Prayer

My prayers are with each of you on this All Souls Day, especially with those who have lost loved ones, friends, coworkers, and companions of all kinds this past year. May our Healing God comfort you. May the memory of every life that touched yours be a blessing forever. Amen.

All Souls Prayer

Holy One, Creator of all,
today we pray in gratitude for every life that has gone before us.
For those who were faithful, we bless you.
For those who were searching, we praise you.
For those who were lost, we implore you.
We remember those who have recently died:
   the terminally ill, those we lost suddenly,
   those with cancer, those with COVID,
   the lonely, the suicidal,
   the young, the middle-aged, the old.
For every life, we thank you.
For every life, we praise you.
For every life, we bless you.
Amen.

Prayer by Amy Ekeh, © Liturgical Press 2020, published with permission

Glass window, Holy Infant Church, Orange, CT

5 Proverbs to Live By

Like many of you, I was saddened to hear that after more than eight decades in circulation, Catholic Digest ended its print run with the Summer 2020 issue. I have enjoyed writing my “Bible in 5” column for the Digest these past two years. Below is a column I especially had fun with and that readers seemed to enjoy. I hope you like it, too.

5 Proverbs to Live By

The book of Proverbs—a collection of wise sayings—is classified as “wisdom literature.” This means it is primarily focused on how to live a good, faithful, meaningful life. Wisdom literature relies on human experience and an awareness of God’s presence in our world and in our daily lives. In this column, we’ll explore five proverbs that are as relevant now as they were over two thousand years ago when they were first written. Here’s to good advice for a meaningful life!

1. How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver (16:16). In a world where we want everything fast and easy, and where we’re always expected to have a clever comment or a quickly-formed opinion, wisdom is no longer the valued commodity it used to be. Wisdom grows slowly from experience, patience, and listening. Those who have wisdom know its value. They know its value is greater than anything money could buy or anything that comes quick and easy. There is a great irony here—those who already have wisdom know its value; those who don’t may never be wise enough to seek it!

2. Rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing (12:18). As a society, we are all too aware of the pain caused by harsh words. Bullying and cyber-bullying weigh heavily upon our collective conscience. And yet we continue to judge and lash out, whether online or in our homes, schools, or workplaces. It is partly comforting and partly disturbing to know that these “sword thrusts” have been a problem for human beings from ancient times. Once again, wisdom offers a corrective. The “tongue of the wise” not only makes better choices and refuses to inflict pain—it brings healing. What a gift—to be wise, and to heal others with one’s words. Lord, give us wisdom, that we may heal rather than harm!

3. Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full (19:17). Here is a rich proverb, and one that echoes throughout the pages of Scripture in both testaments. It seems that the way we treat the poor is the way we treat God (Matt 25:35). In other words, God identifies closely with the poor because he loves them so dearly. The poor are not always able to repay the good done on their behalf. Jesus will later preach that this is good—we should try to do things for people who cannot repay us (Luke 14:12)! This is because we should do things out of love, and not for our own gain. And yet the words of this proverb and the words of Jesus both tell us that God himself will repay us when we love and help those who have less than we do (Luke 6:35; 14:14).

4. Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it (15:17). What a wonderful image! I imagine my own family with a pizza delivery, or another night of pasta. But we are happy. There might be another family down the street or across the world that has a mansion, a personal chef, and a gourmet meal. But they may not have love for each other. And when there is no love, the food just doesn’t taste as good. I’ll take vegetables over a “fatted ox” any day. How about you?

5. Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life (16:31). Well, here’s a proverb we can all rally behind! Gray hair comes to us all, and although we may resist it with a variety of tactics, we can’t stop time. This proverb is about so much more than our hair color. It means that the longer we live, the more potential we have to live righteous lives. The longer we live, the more potential we have for wisdom, which is the crown of a life well-lived. Our modern American culture may not equate age with glory, but the Bible certainly does. So hold your head high and wear that crown of glory! You’ve earned it!

This column originally appeared in the February 2020 issue of Catholic Digest.