Spiritual Perspectives
Worth Waiting For

By Kathy Coleman
Special to The Independent

Several months ago, my nephew and his wife made an application to adopt an infant girl from Guatemala. When, after going through extensive paperwork, their application was accepted, their joy was indescribable. Then came the waiting period. Nine months later they got "the call" to come to Guatemala to receive their baby girl. All one has to do is take a look at the new parents embracing their daughter, Amelia, to know that she was absolutely "worth waiting for."

Some time ago, a friend of mine was in need of a kidney transplant. She found an enthusiastic donor a perfect match in her own son. Mother and son prepared together, both physically and spiritually, for this special bonding and healing event. And, when the moment came, both parties will say without hesitation that this experience was definitely "worth waiting for."

Other friends, a father and mother, like countless families today, kept a faithful prayer vigil for the safe return of their son from Iraq. When prayers were answered, to say that the homecoming was "worth waiting for" doesn't begin to tell the story.

These people had special dreams that became realities. You and I, and people everywhere for that matter, have our own special dreams as well. What binds us the dreamers together? What unites us in our longings? It is our desire with expectation of fulfillment. It is the virtue HOPE.

What is the source of this HOPE? Who passes this HOPE on to us? Where does the power of HOPE come from? His name is Jesus!

This past Easter Sunday, Christians everywhere celebrated and continue to celebrate the resurrected Jesus son of God our HOPE!

Jesus Christ walked through an unthinkable Passion, an unbearable death with body, mind, heart, and soul offered to His Father, and for us. The journey from Gethsemane, to Calvary, to the tomb was certainly not what His followers were expecting or hoping for. Jesus Himself was praying for some alternative. Not knowing just how His Father would turn His desire to reality, Jesus trusted His Father completely. He loved Him more than anything else. And He was obedient to Him to the end.

Embracing His cross, Jesus conquered sin and death once and for all. And His Father, ever faithful, raised Him up in glory.

On that first Easter morning, I can only imagine how all of creation rejoiced. If the ground could speak, couldn't you just hear it singing, "Alleluia! I recognize those familiar footsteps upon me once again. Alleluia!" Do we recognize those same footsteps, as Jesus walks with us today 2007? Do we really see Him, the One who died for us, rose for us, and promises us everlasting life? Do we join our prayers, our dreams, our hopes with His by saying, "Not my will but yours?"

In his "Little Books," the late Bishop Ken Untener wrote: "In His suffering and dying, Jesus experienced the worst of human existence. He went to the very bottom. Total darkness. Helpless. Abandoned. But He never abandoned HOPE. And so... He 'gave up His spirit' to God."

He did this for us, so that we could join Him in going through death to life.

Jesus is the reason we can keep hope alive. He tells us to never give up. Because of Jesus, HOPE reigns. May it reign over you and me.

For Christ has died. And He is risen. And never forget... He's coming again. Now that's unquestionably "worth waiting for."

Kathy Coleman, originally from Lake Charles, La., has volunteered in parish ministry in the Diocese of Gallup for more than three decades. Messages for Coleman can be left with Sacred Heart Cathedral's Department of Religious Education at (505) 722-5485.

This column is the result of a desire by community members, representing different faith communities, to share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues.

For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at the Independent: (505) 863-8611, ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com.