MacGeil Family/Cathan/Sermons
On Hope and Faith
Brothers and Sisters: today the Austere is dark, the Auspicious is bright, and the Maddening is dark but in ascendancy. Reflect and meditate upon them, that you may grow in harmony with them and with his Holiness who has gone to them before us. Today, beneath the light of the Auspicious Star, I am going to speak to you about hope. Today is a particularly appropriate day for this topic, because the Second Prophecy was revealed to his Holiness by the Auspicious Star in a time of its brightness, much as it is bright now. And further, at the time of revelation the Maddening Star was in ascendancy as well! It is especially critical, therefore, that we reflect upon the Second Prophecy and its meaning. Recall the words of that Prophecy, in which the voices of the dead, of the unborn and of the living all cry out: "there is no hope". But what does that mean for us?
When men lose hope, we become despondent. We begin to believe that the only way things will get is worse. Some of us may even wish to die. When terrible things happen, it can be hard to hold onto hope, it can be hard to hold onto faith. These times we live in are very trying; I am sure you have heard by now of the fracture of Morek and the fall to apostasy of her Grandmistress. And when the Second Prophecy and all these voices tell us that there is no hope, how can we hold onto it? How can we survive? Today I tell you that it is because the lesson of the Prophet, of the Stars themselves, is that we should not hold out hope that things will get better. All things fall to ruin; when the sword breaks, the cup cracks, the hand withers, what remains? What is the "stone there, under the light of the Stars"? Is the stone hope?
When the voices of the dead, the unborn and the living all cry out "there is no hope", how hope be all that outlasts them? No, my brothers and sisters, it is not hope. Brothers and sisters, that stone is faith. Hope may bind and sustain lesser men, but it is our faith that binds and sustains us. For hope is false and faith is true; when all goes to ruin, hope is shattered. But when all goes to ruin, what of our faith? Do we lose it? My brothers and sisters when things are at their absolute worst is the most important time for us to be strong in our faith. When all goes to ruin, we do not say "there is no hope", we say "all is as it must be". The Stars guide, and the Stars preserve. For if no believers remain, who is to place a second stone beside the first? We are living in the time of the fulfillment of the vision of the Prophet and of the Second Prophecy, now more than ever before it is important that we be strong of Faith. For if we are strong of Faith, the Stars will give us their gifts, and if we are weak of Faith, then we will have nothing.
