It\u2019s been unbelievably heartbreaking to watch all the events that have occurred over the last week throughout the country. Tonight the feelings in my heart are too tender to try and write about them so instead I decided to share an excerpt from a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland titled \u201cA Perfect Brightness of Hope\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven as we speak, we are waging an \u201call hands on deck\u201d war with COVID-19, a solemn reminder that a virus\u00a01,000 times smaller than a grain of sand\u00a0can bring entire populations and global economies to their knees. We pray for those who have lost loved ones in this modern plague, as well as for those who are currently infected or at risk. We certainly pray for those who are giving such magnificent health care. \u00a0When we have conquered this\u2014and we will\u2014may we be equally committed to freeing the world from the virus of hunger, freeing neighborhoods and nations from the virus of poverty. May we hope for schools where students are taught\u2014not terrified they will be shot\u2014and for the gift of personal dignity for every child of God, unmarred by\u00a0any<\/em>\u00a0form of racial, ethnic, or religious prejudice. Undergirding all of this is our relentless hope for greater devotion to the two greatest of all commandments: to love God by keeping His counsel and to love our neighbors by showing kindness and compassion, patience and forgiveness. <\/sup>\u00a0These two divine directives are still\u2014and forever will be\u2014the only real hope we have for giving our children a better world than the one they now know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, if we finally lose hope, we lose our last sustaining\npossession. It was over the very gate of hell that Dante wrote a warning to all\nthose traveling through his Divina Commedia: \u201cAbandon\nall hope,\u201d he said, \u201cye who enter here.\u201d Truly when hope is gone, what\nwe have left is the flame of the inferno raging on every side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, when our backs are to the wall and, as the hymn says, \u201cother\nhelpers fail and comforts flee,\u201d <\/sup>among\nour most indispensable virtues will be this precious gift of hope linked\ninextricably to our faith in God and our charity to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u201c\u2026 Ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ,\u00a0having a perfect brightness of hope,<\/em>\u00a0and a love of God and of all men. \u2026 If ye shall[,] \u2026 saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(end of excerpt)<\/p>\n\n\n\n