Wishing and Hoping

Dusty Springfield’s hits in the 60s included this Hal David and Burt Bacharach song…

Wishin’ and hopin’ and thinkin’ and prayin’
Plannin’ and dreamin’ each night of his charms
That won’t get you into his arms
So if you’re lookin’ to find love you can share
All you gotta do is hold him, and kiss him and love him
And show him that you care

Dusty’s clear about it. It’s not enough to wish and hope; you’ve got to do something!

Today is Holy Saturday…

As a child I went to Sunday School and heard all of the Bible stories. In particular I learnt about Jesus being crucified on Good Friday and coming back to life on Easter Sunday… but Holy Saturday, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, was rarely mentioned.

When it was mentioned there was the thought that Jesus’ disciples may well have been wishing and hoping and thinking and praying…

I’m increasingly persuaded that there’s much to learn from Holy Saturday..

Sometimes in life there are dramatic events – Friday’s disappointment, loss, death… or Sunday’s celebration, achievement, life. However, much of life we’re living in Saturday-world, between dramatic events – wishing and hoping and thinking and praying…

Dusty’s advice was that you should do something. But often in Saturday-world, however desperately might want to do something, we have to wait patiently, with business that remains unfinished and conclusions that are out of our control.

I’m learning an alternative approach, given in Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s prayer of patient trust:

‘Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new…

… Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.’

This is my Holy Saturday prayer. I’m still learning.