3:16: The Numbers of Hope
By Max Lucado
(2022)
The author describes his latest best-seller as the “most famous conversation in the Bible” and “a twenty-six –word-parade of hope beginning with God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”(John 3:16). Lucado calls it the “hope Diamond of the Bible,” and brings out its implications. The context is the famous night encounter between Nicodemus and the Lord. The author speaks of it in an intensely personal way: “Every time I recall these words, they are fresh and as stunning as my first encounter with them. The mind-bending awareness of God’s limitless love, his incalculable sacrifice, and the priceless teaching at the core. How can we not review it again and again? I want this generation, and all who come after, to look closely at the key promise of God and choose the gift beyond all gifts.” Every person can take courage to face up to the setbacks and despairs of life recalling the verse. We know that things will turn out well for us because “God so loved the world.” The book begins with the dramatization of the curious Jewish scholar seeking out the Galilean “crowd-stopper.” The two are on two sides of “the Continental Divide of Scripture.” Nicodemus, the well-meaning sincere Jew, believes in giving God his best and hopes that God will do the rest. But Jesus takes him to the next level, insinuating that his efforts are not enough, even if they are the finest and makes the enigmatic demand: “Unless you are born again, you can’t inhabit the Kingdom of God.” The heart of the human problem is the human heart. What it implies is this: “He loves, He gave, We believe, We live.” Part II is a series of short reflections recalling the first part entitled ‘Only Jesus: 40 Days with the Son’. In these we are engaged in a reflective journey from the birth to the final exhortations of the Lord after Resurrection. Lucado concludes the final reflection: “The same one who saved your soul longs to remake your heart. God is willing to change us into the likeness of the Saviour. Shall we accept his offer? ”
The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook for the Journey to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints
By Ralph Martin
(2006)
Ralph Martin is a leading American Catholic evangelist, widely published author, theologian and president of Renewal Ministries. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as an expert for the World Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization in 2012. Martin’s book draws upon the teaching of seven great spiritual doctors and mystics of the Church – St Augustine, St John of the Cross, St Teresa of Ávila, St Catherine of Siena, St Bernard of Clairvaux, St Thérèse of Lisieux and St Francis De Sales – to explain the Biblical world view in light of the lives and writings of these heroes and heroines the Church. These saints addressed the issues of their times. The author particularly recalls the trials of St Teresa of Ávila and St John of the Cross, whose attempted to reform the monastic orders. We may be drifting along with the contemporary culture and its thinking, which can lead us away from truth and happiness, trapping us in falsehood and destruction. Quoting St Bernard, the author notes that if we want to arrive at happiness—the fulfillment of all desire rather than destruction or perpetual frustration—we need to take a different road, the road that leads us to enter through the gate that opens to heaven. The book provides encouragement and spiritual direction for all those who yearn to know, love, and serve the Lord. A three-stage pattern of development is traced in the lives of the saints mentioned, designating them as “Purgative”, “Illuminative” and “Unitive.” Different saints use different imagery to designate their experiences. Thus, Teresa of Ávila uses the image of ‘seven mansions’. The final or Unitive stage signifies habitual union with God, deep joy, profound humility, freedom from fears of suffering or trials, great desire to serve God and apostolic fruitfulness. “Fear of God” is not the fear of a tyrannical, impetuous, arbitrary and punitive God. God is the healing transformative force acting upon our thought, desire and action. Its attainment is contingent on human choice, the choice of our own destiny.
Prof Gigy Joseph
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