The readings of today offer a different kind of hope. They offer us the opportunity to have hope based upon a sense of God's fidelity, to such a degree that we trust in God's assurances of love and a promise - "My love shall never leave you".

We can believe our God has mercy on us. Our God says to us, personally, tenderly, with great comfort, "I will always be with you. No matter what you have to face, you will never be alone. I'll be with you - in it, through it, and offer you mercy and peace."

In the Gospel, Luke comments that the sinners are the ones who listened to Jesus' words and acknowledged the goodness, the justice, the righteousness of God. On the other hand, it is the self-righteous religious people who didn't see any need for conversion or baptism by John. They rejected God's plan for them.

Hope and joy come from experiencing the mercy and the promise that we will never be alone, as God's love endures forever. That confidence is so freeing. As the joy grows, we can feel our self-absorption fall away and find that we no longer carry the same burdens. Our hearts begin to become sensitised again, to notice and care about the suffering of others.