As we have read the prophet Amos in the last few days, the Lord has been very blunt with us and made it clear that the wages of sin is death (Rm 6:23), even a "culture of death." However, the final word in the book of Amos is not death but hope. The Lord promises to raise up our ruins and rebuild us "as in the days of old" (Am 9:11).

"Yes, days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the vintager, him who sows the seed; the juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains, and all the hills shall run with it. I will bring about the restoration of My people" (Am 9:13-14). "I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope" (Jer 29:11). "In hope we were saved" (Rm 8:24). "And this hope will not leave us disappointed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us" (Rm 5:5).

In this long-awaited year of the Great Jubilee, worship "Christ in you, your hope of glory" (Col 1:27). "Venerate the Lord, that is, Christ, in your hearts. Should anyone ask you the reason for this hope of yours, be ever ready to reply" (1 Pt 3:15). In Christ and with Christ in us, we are people and prophets of hope.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, December 16, 1999

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, December 18, 1999