Ite, missa est: Sunday, November 2, 2025
As I head into the start of my work-week, I’m stuck on a few words from yesterday’s second reading where St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans:
“Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5).
It’s so easy to get discouraged when things don’t go our way. The news feels overwhelming — endless political fights, grim economic forecasts, social unrest. These challenges are real, distressing, and often loom larger than life. When we focus only on this world, it’s no wonder hopelessness takes over our hearts.
Yet there’s another kind of “economy” at work — one not measured by money or earthly power, but by God’s love.
Hope and the Faithful Departed
On All Souls’ Day, the Church invites us to remember those who have gone before us in faith. One of the readings comes from the Book of Wisdom:
“The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, but they are at peace. Their hope is full of immortality” (Wisdom 3:1-4).
And in the same liturgy, we hear Paul’s assurance once more:
“The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).
Together, these readings remind us that hope is not wishful thinking or a fragile optimism about how things will turn out this week.
It’s a rooted assurance — a trust that even in loss, disappointment, or death, God’s love remains constant, and His promises endure.
Disappointed? Take Heart!
The word disappoint comes from the Middle English disapointen, meaning “to remove from office.”
In the late 1400s it morphed to take on the emotional meaning we know today — unmet expectations, frustration, a sense of being let down. Too often, life focuses on worldly disparities, on having or not having, rather than on the hope God gives.
In Greek, Paul’s term καταισχύνω (kataischuno) means to shame or humiliate. So when he says hope does not disappoint, he’s really saying: True hope — the kind rooted in God — will never leave us ashamed or abandoned.
Why? Because hope is not something we manufacture. It’s a gift — the Father’s love poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
God’s Economy
When we get caught up in the world’s economy — success, control, approval, achievement — disappointment is almost guaranteed. But when we measure our days by God’s economy, hope reshapes how we see everything.
On this All Souls’ Day, we remember the faithful departed who trusted in the promise of eternal life fulfilled in Christ. We pray for them and for ourselves, that the Holy Spirit might kindle in our hearts the light of this hope, shining even through our moments of deepest disappointment.
“He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces” (Isaiah 25:8).
A Thought for the Week
Let’s lean into that gift of hope.
Carry it into our conversations and encounters — not to convince or correct anyone, but simply to cast a little light where the world seems dim.
Because even when the news is bleak, and our expectations fall short, hope does not disappoint. It leads us forward, reminding us that God’s love is the final word.
