Wednesday of Hope – Despite Everything . . . Live in Hope
Despite everything, life is full of beauty and meaning.
– Etty Hillesum, Letters from Westerbork
If Etty Hillesum could write this with all she endured, we too can be women and men of hope, like this sparrow hanging upside down from tender branch in the dead of winter. In 1943 when Etty and her family were placed on a train bound for Auschwitz, she tossed out window a postcard that read, “We have left the camp singing.” She was executed in Auschwitz on November 30, at the age of twenty-nine.
Being Connected
Snowflakes, leaves, humans, plants, raindrops, stars, molecules, microscopic entities all come in communities. The singular cannot in reality exist.
– Paula Gunn Allen
Wednesday of Hope – Tipping the Scales
In a world of injustice, God once and for all tips the scales in the favor of hope.
– Max Lucado
One Important Thing
Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.
– Etty Hillesum
Wednesday of Hope – Hopeful in Bad Times
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives.
– Howard Zinn
