This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

OF HOPE, OF DESPAIR
I look out my window to see a clear day.
The azure sky is tinged with a golden blush
In the east, and only glistening drops of yesterdays rain
Clinging to tips of needles of the pines.
Plants and grasses are timidly raising their heads,
The heaviness of the rain and clouds being cast aside,
And in the world around me, that I can see,
There is Hope.
For many days before, there was but a drenching, sogging,
Souring rain. And clouds of grey, unbroken, hung
In all quarters, emitting, at times, loud rolls of thunder.
The only brightness was sharp streaks of lightning and rain.
In all my world there was the destructive decadence of Despair. To see through the depths of darkness into the brightness Of a world created and set aside of our Lord,
The creator of all things.
Naked we stand, sinful but uncondemned,
For He was condemned and sacrificed for us,
So that we might live in faith and trust and hope.
For me, in Him, there is boundless hope,
Of despair there is nothing at all.