There’s always a happy ending

WE need to be reassured of this promise, given by no less than Christ himself.  “In the world you shall have distress. But have confidence, I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,32) These words should be indelible in our consciousness.

We have to learn to look beyond the present trials and challenges with the accompanying ups and downs, so that we can go through them, not escape from them, without being swallowed up by their logic that would simply pass away anyway.

What matters is what remains in the heart after going through these experiences. Are we still with God through them and after them? Is our faith strengthened? Our hope and charity as well? For as long as we are with God, our life will always have a happy ending regardless of what we may go through.

Christ has more than amply warned us about what to expect in the world if we are to follow him faithfully. “Behold I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves,” he said, already giving us a vivid idea of the contrast between a Christian life consistently lived and the world environment that still needs to be redeemed.

Let’s remember that our freedom either can catapult us to the acme of goodness or plunge us into the depth of evil and malice. We should try to be ready to face the possible worst scenario even as we strive to achieve the best of what we can be.

We should not make a big issue about the trials and challenges that will surely come our way in this life. Without denying their seriousness, of course, let us also realize more deeply that these trials and challenges cannot actually destroy our soul if we don’t allow them.

In fact, the proper attitude to have and to cultivate is that of fearlessness. Christ himself said so many times. “Be not afraid,” was a constant reassurance he told his disciples. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,” (Mt 10,28) he said once, practically telling us that we can always shield the soul from anything that can happen in our body, if we want to.

And so, together with fearlessness, another trait we should try to develop is that of sportsmanship in the many and even formidable and complicated struggles we have to wage in our present life. And I would add, also a certain degree of elegance and poise, if we can still manage it especially when the going gets rough.

It’s faith and trust in God, it’s hope and a burning love for God that would enable us to do all this. It’s these theological virtues that would enable us to transcend the limits of human endurance.

If we would just rely on our common sense, our human cleverness and our sciences and arts without the support of faith, hope and charity, then for sure we would not go the distance. We would fail to share in the victory of Christ expressed in his very resurrection after a painful death of crucifixion.

Of course, neither should we abandon our common sense and all the other human powers and faculties in living out our human condition in the world. Doing so would be tantamount to tempting God and to falling into mere fideism that can assume many forms such as superstition, quietism, idealism, etc.

Christ told us very clearly that we need to be shrewd, clever and astute like serpents but simple, harmless and innocent like doves. It’s quite a combination, possible only when one is truly with Christ. Otherwise, we open ourselves to the possibility of some psychological disorder.

We should never be naïve in the things of the world, but neither should we become cynical and skeptical, overly worried or too concerned. A certain sense of detachment and abandonment is always healthy. God’s providence never fails.

In the story of Joseph and his brothers, we can learn how the evil intended by Joseph’s brothers resulted in some good in the sense that Joseph came out saving his brothers and the whole clan from hunger. Much more than that, the evil inflicted on him occasioned many virtues like forgiveness and magnanimity.

Joseph finally brought about reconciliation and unity in the whole family, making his father, Jacob, who was grieving for so long after the loss of Joseph, extremely happy at the end of his life.

There’s always hope no matter how ugly things may appear now. There’s always a happy ending, if not now, then later.