"When we live with hope we do not get tangled up with concerns for how our wishes will be fulfilled. So, too, our prayers are not directed toward the gift but toward the One who gives it. Ultimately, it is not a question of having a wish come true but of expressing an unlimited faith in the giver of all good things. . . . Hope is based on the premise that the other gives only what is good. Hope includes an openness by which you wait for the promise to come through, even though you never know when, where, or how this might happen" (Henri Nouwen).

Hope is putting our trust in a person, who wants the best for us. What is the greatest good for each of us? To see God face to face and to share in his eternal life forever! Everything else is, in light of this, insignificant. St. Paul reminds us in his Letter to the Romans: "For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance" (Romans 8:24-25) What is it that we do not see? We do not see God. We do not see life after physical death. We do not see our salvation in its finality. Thus, we hope with longing and confidence. Advent is not just a season. It is a life journey of hope, waiting for the final coming of Jesus in glory.