The Wellspring Of Hope: Study And The Annunciation Of The Good News
Introduction
I am going to summarize the Wellspring of Hope article with the following points: the act of hope, core of learning, search for truth, birth of community and the gift of a future. St. Dominic used to take risk and sing cheerfully to give good news to the people. “He always appeared cheerful and happy, except when he was moved by compassion for any trouble which afflicted his neighbor. ” The challenge for us Today is that how one can bring Good news to people who are crucified by suffering, violence and poverty and there is crisis of hope in every part of the world. This article suggests one a life of study where one can grow in love and that love “bears all the things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things”.
Study as an Act of Hope
When one starts studying, it becomes an act of Hope. Because it leads him to confidence that there is meaning for the suffering that one undertakes in this world. That meaning comes to us as gift, a Word of Hope promising life. This gift will be given to us as it was given to mother Mary through Annunciation through Angel: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called holy-the Son of God”.
- Characteristics of the Learner
- Listening as the Core of Learning
- Study as Search for Truth
First of all, student should have that attentiveness as Mary listens to the good news that was announced to her. The Attentiveness to the word of hope proclaimed in the Scripture. Secondly, it is fertility. The attentiveness to the Word of God, should release the springs of our fertility and it should make us bearer of Christ in our world. Thirdly, it is the future which is given by God. In a movement when one seems to be deserted and without hope, God gives one a future, a way to the kingdom as he did it through Annunciation to Mary.
He came to her and said “Hail, o favored one, Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be”. Mary listens to the angel, the good news of our salvation. Study is not learning how to be clever but how to listen. This listening ultimately leads one to prayer. In prayer, one silently and with emptiness waits for God’s word to come him.
This worlds of ours, for all its pain and suffering, is ultimately the fruit of “that divine love which first moved all beautiful things. ” it is clear that “it must be possible to find God in the complexity of human experience. ” Our center of study should be school of joy because they are founded on belief that it is possible to arrive at some understanding of our world and our lives. Truth may be known and in fact has come to us as a gift as St Paul say: “what I received from the Lord, I also delivered to you”.
The wellspring of hope
It is difficult to answer the simplest questions: are we free? So our study should be based on the philology and Theology. One should be free oneself from the false ideologies of our time by listening to the world of God. In one’s struggle to liberate oneself from the perception of this world, one should be present in the others culture not just to inculturate the gospel there, but to understand the mystery of creation, and of God, the giver of all good things.
The Birth of Community
The purpose of one’s study is not merely to impart information but to bring Christ to birth in our world. Life of study builds community and to prepares a home for Christ to dwell among us. The fruit of solitary labor is to build community by opening up the mysteries of the word of God. We learn through study to belong to each other and so to hope.
The transformation of Mind and Heart
Doctrine of Creation shows us that our Creator is more intimately close to us than any being could be. Study can never be just training of mind but it is the transformation of the human heart.
Study and the Building of Community in the Order
Study not only should open our hearts to the other but introduce us into a community. Albert the Great wrote of the pleasure of seeking the truth together: “in dulcedine societatis quaerere veritatem. ” Scholar should reflect the values of our society. We can never build community unless we dare to argue with each other. One wrestles so that the truth can win. The true teacher is always humble. Scholar has the responsibility of saying words that build community that nurture others, which heal wounds, and offer life.
Study and the Building of a Just World
Preachers must be the guardians of hope. Our study prepares us to speak a liberating word. It does it through teaching us compassion, showing us that God is present even in the midst of suffering. Our words of hope will have authority, if they will have rooted in a serious study of Word of God and an analysis of our contemporary society. It is not enough to be indignant at the injustices of this world. Our words will only have authority if they are rooted in serious economic and political analysis of injustice. The word of God would surely show itself to be a truly liberating word and that we need not fear to pass by the way of doubt and questioning.
The Gift of a Future
Scholar study the past so as to discover the seeds of an unimaginable future. Just as a virgin or a barren woman becomes pregnant with a child, so our apparently barren world is discovered to be pregnant with possibilities that we had never dreamt of, the kingdom of God. We have to dare to remember and to tell of the past truthfully, if we remember the one who embraced his death, who gave himself to his betrayers, who made of his passion a gift and communion. In that memory we dare to hope. Here we have a model. St Dominic walked through the countryside singing, not just because he was courageous not because he had a cheerful temperament. But year of study had given him a heart formed to hope. The times has come to renew the love affair between the order and the study. There are many theological schools around. “These schools should offer not just an intellectual formation but study should become a way to holiness, which opens our hearts and mind to each other, builds community and forms us as those who confidently proclaim the coming of the kingdom. ”
Conclusion
This article is really rich in its message. It encourages one to study the word of God seriously. It focuses on the present-day evils and problems. It helps the scholar to reflect on the problems in the light of word of God. It asks the scholar to help those lost their meaning in life by engaging in the idols of the world. This article enriches us how scholar can bring the good news to the world and can “give an account of hope that is within us”. I find this article worthy of reading. It is so enriching.
