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"To have Christian hope means to know about evil and yet to go to meet the future with confidence. The core of faith rests upon accepting being loved by God, and therefore to believe is to say Yes, not only to him, but to creation, to creatures, above all, to men, to try to see the image of God in each person and thereby to become a lover." (Pope Benedict XVI)
St. Peter tells us to "Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour." It is certainly not difficult to notice the presence of the evil one in modern culture. Yet, it is not enough for the devil to drag souls down through overt temptation; the deceiver also furtively pulls souls into ruts by focusing their attention on all the destruction he has wrought.
Satan first seeks to terrify the devout by inundating the faithful Christian with stories of a pervasive evil. He convinces one to busy himself with anxious thoughts, making believe that he is accomplishing some good by putting his efforts into worrying rather than putting his efforts into prayer; yet nothing could be more fruitless than anxiety and nothing could be more fruitful than prayer.
If he fails in this regard, the evil one then tries a different tactic. If he cannot terrify the heart, he will instead harden it with contempt. Disgusted by the evil he sees and burdened by the crosses he must endure, one cultivates a cynical attitude, believing it will alleviate his weary soul. He is tired of dwelling in the darkness, but refuses to look for the Light. It takes very little effort or intelligence to be cynical but it demands great strength and thoughtfulness to remain silent and curb the appetite for caustic commentary.
The early Christians, living amongst pagan neighbors, also had their temptation to cynicism for surely they must have reminisced of the days when Rome lauded virtue and abhorred vice. Yet, they refused to be anchored by misery and chose to live their days buoyed by hope. As Pope Benedict XVI said in Spe Salvi: "One who has hope lives differently." It was their hope of heaven that encouraged and lightened their hearts amidst tribulation. It was their hope of eternal happiness that radiated in their joyful countenances drawing others —depressed by the mania surrounding them— to implore them to share this treasure.
"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Rom. 5:3-5)
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