The polls have spoken. In 2021, more than half of the French population does not believe in God. As I read this news, what I found most surprising was my inability to be shocked. I knew that my country has long started its journey to atheism but I did not know why I accepted it so easily. Could I be so used to this decline in faith that I had lost hope completely in the possible religiosity of my own country?
Upon further reflection, a great quote by the wonderful (I cannot stress it enough, go read the beautiful insights from her journal!) Flannery O’Connor came to my mind: “At its best our rage is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.” O’Connor was talking about the world she knew before dying at the young age of 39 in 1964, but I think it applies to our current situation as well.
We have gotten used to desperation. Why not? It’s everywhere. Suffering, temptation, and death are around us at all times. We see it every day, taking different forms but resulting in the same burden on the souls of those who let it invade their heart. Depressed yet? Well, do not be. Cheer up, there is hope. And in the words of Andy in The Shawshank Redemption, “hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
But back to O’Connor and her impressive lucidity. Settling with the habit of despair completely disregards the whole basis of our faith. Jesus triumphed over all evil when He died to atone our sins. As Christians, we know that no matter how many hurdles impede our life, it will never be a senseless journey because it leads right back to the warm embrace of Our Loving Father. Ask Tolkien, the light always prevails over darkness. And hope is light.
Hope is a precious gift. It is the reason we can rejoice, celebrate and embrace all goodness. When I look back at the worst moments in my life, they all seemed without hope. The best, inversely, were full of it. Being hopeful forces one to be in the present, to actively seek the good. Life can seem hopeless and surrendering to hope is not an easy thing to do. In fact, the hardest thing to do is to find it in moments of despair.
Back in November of last year, I had trouble finding any source of rejoicing in a divided and terrorized world. One night, after a long unpleasant day, I suddenly felt the urge to pray the Rosary. It immediately brought me peace and hope. I had prayed it every day for Lent, but never thought about making the effort since. I was, and still am, a very impatient person, and can only focus for a few minutes before I get bored of the seemingly never-ending recitation of the prayers.
But that is precisely why I had lost hope. It is a matter of practicing patience, letting time heal us, and taking the time each day to remind ourselves why we are on this planet. Many people, including myself, tend to see it as a passive feeling, dependent on uncontrollable events. It is not. Hope can be an act of the will. Like all disciplines, it requires time and effort. It is a lifelong battle against our tendency to take the easy way out. Despair is the simple route, but is it the one we want to take? Do we want to keep searching or do we want to find?
Henri Matisse once said “there are always flowers for those who want to see them.” I think it is time we start planting flowers everywhere and open our eyes to their beauty. They will take time to bud, but the gardening will not have been in vain once they fill our world with their comforting fragrance. After this, how could we ever let our efforts down and refuse to spread this soothing perfume continuously across the globe? Maybe then, to O’Connor’s delight, will the searchers find what they were looking for and will our age abandon its despair to become an age of hope.
- An Age of Hope - October 6, 2021