Why the World Is Losing HOPE

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Welcome to Night Prayer with Father Matlak, your evening call to prayer.

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[00:00:12]As we end our day, let's do so in God's presence and begin our night prayer.

[00:00:19]In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[00:00:22]>> [music] >> Jesus Christ, my God, I adore you and thank you for all the grace you have given me this day.

[00:00:30]I offer you my sleep and all the moments of this night.

[00:00:34]I place myself and all my loved ones, wherever they may be, in your sacred side and under the mantle of our blessed mother.

[00:00:43]Let your holy angels stand watch and keep us in [music] peace. Amen.

[00:00:49]My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this evening we are keeping vigil for the great feast of Pentecost, the glorious descent of the Holy Spirit.

[00:01:00]And in doing this, uh in keeping this vigil, I come to a point in Psalm 118 that is very associated with monastic life that in the Benedictine tradition in the Christian West. Verse 116 features the following verse. And and it exists in different translations and I'm just reading the one I have.

[00:01:21]It's uh "Uphold me, oh Lord, according to your word, so that I may live and do not let me be disappointed of my hope."

[00:01:32]Now, I think it's [clears throat] quite fascinating the connection between this and the Holy Spirit because what happens in the Christian life? What is the Christian life? What is the message of Jesus Christ? If you think about the gospel, the message of Jesus Christ is God God saves you.

[00:01:49]And throughout the gospel, of course, he's always pointing forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit who will vivify us and teach us all truth.

[00:01:59]And what does he say is the ultimate sin, right? The the denial of the Holy Spirit, the sin against the Holy Spirit, which in the Christian tradition we understand to be despair, right?

[00:02:10]Now, this is a a a tendency and a temptation for us all. The the tendency against hope, the temptation against hope. The idea that God is not going to come to save us.

[00:02:22]And in in the tradition of of the monastics, well, we have this this man, this woman, who gives himself, who gives herself uh in complete uh self-donation to the Lord.

[00:02:37]And the monastic enters into the battlefield expressing their baptism to the full and says, "Lord, uphold me according to your word. You've said you've come to give me life. Uphold me, and then I may live, and do not let me dis- be disappointed of my hope."

[00:02:57]>> [snorts] >> Uh we live in a culture now, I think, our Western culture is a culture that's so hopeless.

[00:03:04]It lacks hope. It lacks the extension into the beyond, which the Lord is calling us to, which is absolutely essential to the Christian message. And as I see as I see this uh this charism of monastic life, uh and and I can see the wisdom of why they prayed this verse in the Psalms, because they were ultimately saying, "Lord, help me to experience this hope." But also, in the tradition, it's as though it's as though that the founders of monastic life were saying, "You, the disciples, the monks, the nuns, are going to be examples to the rest of the world that there is a God, that there is hope.

[00:03:51]And so you are you know, you are public beings. You are ecclesial beings.

[00:03:58]Cuz you are the people that everyone else in their day-to-day living, the families, the young people growing up, the elderly, will look to you and say, "Truly, the Lord is present here with us because he has given you to us as a sign of hope." And so, I give thanks for this this wonderful verse and the many many centuries, almost 2,000 years, of this charism being lived out for the sake of our hope growing in the presence of God and his continual presence with us in our world.

[00:04:42]Now, I invite you to examine your conscience.

[00:04:46]Firstly, give thanks to God for all the benefits that you have received this day.

[00:05:01]Secondly, ask God for the grace to know your sins and to be rid of them.

[00:05:17]Thirdly, take an account of all the sins that you have committed during this day in thoughts, in words, and in deeds.

[00:05:36]Fourthly, ask pardon from the Lord for all the sins that you have committed.

[00:05:51]>> Finally, make a resolution with God's grace to amend your life.

[00:06:05]Finally, we end with the Lord's Prayer.

[00:06:09]Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[00:06:13]Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[00:06:17]Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, >> [music] >> as we forgive those who trespass against us.

[00:06:24]And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[00:06:28]>> [music] >> In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[00:06:35]Thanks for listening [music] today.

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[00:06:41]Night Prayer with Father Matlak is a production of Good Catholic, the media division of The Catholic Company.

[00:06:47]For more faith-filled podcasts and videos, visit goodcatholic.com. [music]