Simon, Simon, have you heard?  There is a new prophet teaching in the village.  He is proclaiming God's Kingdom, curing diseases and illnesses.  I hope he is the promised savior. 

Andrew, what is the point?  We had such great hopes for John, and now look what has happened.  The Roman arrested him.  What makes you think this new teacher is any different?   Why should I bother to hope?  Nothing is going to change.  Come.  Sit down.  We have nets to mend and fish to catch, or we will not eat today.

I can imagine this or similar conversations within the families of Galilee.  Many people in this region struggled to survive, living in a country controlled by foreigners. The Romans focused on keeping the peace and collecting taxes, not human rights.  Simon, Andrew, their neighbors, and their families were not Roman citizens, so they had no rights.  Their oppressors could not be challenged or held accountable.  They could be arrested, beaten, thrown in jail, tortured, and killed.  Their possessions confiscated, and families left destitute.  Under such circumstances, why bother to hope?

Here we are, some 2000 plus years since the birth of Christ, and there continue to be many people struggling day-to-day.  How many Simons find themselves dealing with racial and/or social injustice worldwide?  How many Andrews long for respect of their fundamental human rights, including the right to live peacefully, earn a living wage, have access to clean water, nutritious food, and health care, and the right to practice their religious beliefs?   

If you are a Simon or Simone, an Andrew or Andrea, or an ally of an oppressed person(s), how do you maintain hope and share hope for a better future?  Given the magnitude of the world's sadness, how do you keep from saying, Andrew, why bother?  

Unlike the Simons, Simones, Andrews, and Andreas of Jesus' time, we know the teacher proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and curing every disease and illness is more than just another prophet.  He is the Promised One that reconciles us to God.  Although we still live in an imperfect world, we have the voice of John reassuring us we can receive from Him whatever we ask if we keep his commandments and do what pleases him (1 Jn.3:22).  John explains we are to trust God and turn away from the false spirits of the world that want to draw us into hopelessness.  Our call is to turn toward the Simons and Simones, the Andrews and Andreas in solidarity with their struggles.  Our call is to offer them compassion, acceptance, love, and hope through our actions.

May 2022 be the year we reaffirm our commitment to doing good and promoting justice.  In the prayer, A Step Along the Way, Archbishop Oscar Romero reminds us: 

This is what we are about.  We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.  Amen