The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. An event of epic proportions for the human race. An event of singular importance for all Christians and one of particular significance for the Brotherhood of Hope. Because our name is not merely a title.
For us, the title “Brotherhood of Hope” expresses a fundamental characteristic of our life, the theological virtue of hope. Hope is a gift of God which fills us with confidence that He will bring to fulfillment all that He has promised, especially eternal life with Him. This hope is founded on the Resurrection.
As Brothers of Hope, we want to be used by the Lord to bring hope to others. Yet often what we find is that those who love and serve the Lord—ourselves included—struggle with vanity at times. By vanity I do not mean a sense of pride, but rather vanity in the sense that one is tempted to see his efforts on behalf of the Kingdom as useless, as futile, and of no lasting effect. This sense is well-expressed in the passage from scripture: “Vanity of vanities; all things are vanity. What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?” (Eccl 1:2-3).
This attitude can be a powerful deterrent or at least a draining burden to one seeking to love and serve the Lord and His people. Are my efforts worth it? Does it really make any difference that I persist in my struggle again sin, temptation, and the allurements of a worldly spirit? Is the pursuit of greater holiness worth it? Is it not all in vain? Into the midst of this questioning and struggle we need to recall the Resurrection. For it is true, as St. Paul says, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14). Paul could easily have added: “and so are your struggles with battling temptations, sin, and worldly allurements.” This truth is especially important for us as Brothers. For we have set aside many good things that other Christians can have so as to live a life of consecrated chastity, poverty and obedience in imitation of the Lord Jesus. The truth is that one’s life as a Christian—and in a particular way our life as Brothers consecrated to the Lord—rests completely on Christ’s Resurrection.
All of us want to do well in life. We want our life to be a success. Yet if Christ has not been raised, then “we are the most pitiable of men” (1 Cor 15:19).
But “Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Cor 15:20), and that makes all the difference. The Resurrection is our guarantee that all of our efforts on behalf of the Kingdom will ultimately lead to triumph. For the Resurrection is our proof that Jesus is not just a moral man, not just loyal, good, merciful and compassionate, but that He is the one who conquers in the end. He is the triumphant one. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).
The truth is not that our efforts on behalf of the Kingdom are in vain. The truth is rather, as this psalmist says: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil” (Ps 127:1). The truth is that when we live for and serve the Lord, the Resurrection is our guarantee that our house-building and city-guarding are not in vain.
This truth does not mean that there will be no pain, no suffering, no disappointments, no failures or setbacks in this life. Our experiences of life, even of our life in Christ, tells us that such is not the case. After all, even the risen Christ still bears the wounds of his suffering in his resurrected body (see Jn 20:27). But it does mean that “in the Lord our labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).
For us in the Brotherhood of Hope the Resurrection is the source of our hope. Our life is founded on the truth that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead in triumph. Since He has been raised and since we are united with Him through baptism, we can be confident that if we are faithful, we shall be raised with Him (see Rom 6:4). And because we unite ourselves to Him in a special way by our profession of the evangelical councels, we summon ourselves to hope, that is, to a confidence that, because of the Resurrection and our personal relationship with the risen Christ, our life is not in vain, as it may appear to those with worldly eyes. Likewise we summon not just ourselves, but others who live and serve the Lord, to a like confidence. Because of the Resurrection, we should “be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).
This article originally appeared in our Summer 1994 newsletter.