“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his love endures forever.”

This is the source of our hope: the goodness of God, whose love endures forever.  In our spiritual life we can become egotistical.  When we are living in a period of great graces it sometimes slowly and imperceptibly enters into our minds that our hope lies in our perseverance in living the Christian life.  But if God is merciful, and we know he is, he lets us follow this illusion until we fall, that our hope may find its true source once again.  “His delight is not in horses, nor his pleasure in warriors’ strength.  The Lord delights in those who revere him, in those who wait for his love.” (Psalm 147.10-11)

He knows our hearts.  He knows we are weak, pitiable creatures, though we fancy ourselves as strong and virtuous.  We pray to enter ever more deeply into the mysterious communion of the Trinity.  But we cannot walk there, we must be carried.  And we cannot be carried unless we know our immense, nearly unimaginable, poverty.