I took a ride with an unhappy Uber driver this week.

He wasn’t happy with his job, his family situation, or the place where he was living. He seemed like a victim to some sort of negativity that was clearly bringing him down.

I wished I could have done more for him than pray.

Then it struck me that I could.

New research in the field of personality psychology tells us that hopefulness is contagious. If someone who’s feeling discouraged and negative is around hopeful people, over time, positive change regularly results.

In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus sends 70 disciples on a mission to bring hope. He warns there will be resistance. But he encourages them anyway.

Friends, times have not changed. We are to be bearers of hope to a discontented and discouraged world. We will encounter resistance. But Jesus says take heart; hope wins.

How are we embodying hope? Chances are it is making more of an impact on the world around us than we suspect.