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HOPE IN ADVERSITY by Vima Dasan, S.J.
All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY PUBLISHERS TO THE HOLY SEE
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2 CONTENTS Faith in Adversity .................................................................. 05 We believe in the blessings of trials ................................... 05 We believe God is in every tomorrow ............................... 07 We believe God is in our defeats ....................................... 08 We believe holy audacity is better than human timidity .... 09 We believe even when we do not feel ................................ 11 We believe the cross God sends is the best for us............... 12 We believe because we are certain ..................................... 13 Patience in Adversity ........................................................... 15 Patience is power ................................................................ 15 Patience is a training ground .............................................. 16 Patience with physical illness ............................................. 17 Patience with calumnies ..................................................... 18 Patience with old age ......................................................... 19 Patience with all human limitations ................................... 20 Patience with God’s delays ................................................ 21 Patience with God’s absence .............................................. 22 Patience is not passivity ..................................................... 23 Prayer in Adversity ............................................................... 25 Prayer is a remedy .............................................................. 25 Prayer is rest ....................................................................... 26 Prayer is to look into heaven .............................................. 28 Prayer of faith ..................................................................... 29 Prayer of petition ................................................................ 30 Prayer of complaint ............................................................ 31 Prayer at dawn .................................................................... 32 Prayer in waiting ................................................................ 33 Praying always ................................................................... 34
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3 Trust in Adversity ................................................................. 35 Trusting is the language of the heart .................................. 35 Trusting when worried about tomorrow ............................ 36 Trusting when confused ..................................................... 37 Trusting when faced with obstacles ................................... 38 Trusting when losing a beloved ......................................... 39 Trusting when God hides his face ...................................... 40 Trusting when spiritually drained ...................................... 41 Obedience in Adversity ......................................................... 43 Obedience is surrender of self ............................................ 43 Obedience though disappointed ......................................... 44 Obedience though tempted ................................................. 45 Obedience gives up ‘the less’ for ‘the greater’ .................. 46 Obedience offers the softest pillow .................................... 47 How do we know God’s will? ............................................ 48 Hope in Adversity .................................................................. 51 Hope in divine providence ................................................. 51 Hope in the second chance ................................................. 52 Hope in inner springs ......................................................... 53 Hope in moral lapses .......................................................... 54 Hope in all trials ................................................................. 55 Hope is creative .................................................................. 57 Hope makes life worth living ............................................. 58 Acknowledgments ................................................................. 60
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INTRODUCTION The Life of each one of us is to a greater or lesser extent touched by adversity. We are from time to time faced with difficulties, worries, and problems, however great or small. The Christian disciple is ever engaged in learning to be like the Master - Jesus. We are being schooled in the virtues of faith, patience, prayer, trust, obedience and above all hope. This little booklet was written to be dipped into as often as adversity appears - disappointment, confusion and suffering. There is a word of hope on every page, supported by scripture and the writings of many who have gone before us. Do keep this little book to hand.
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FAITH IN ADVERSITY “Ultimately, faith is the key to the universe. The final meaning of human existence, and answers to the questions on which all our happiness depends, can not be found in any other way.” (Thomas Merton)
We believe in the blessings of trials “Let him test me in the crucible; I shall come out pure gold.” (Jb 23:10)
As in a landscape, so in the life of us, there will be ‘hills and valleys’. We need both. If our life is all one dead level, it will be dull and it will oppress us with its sameness. It is the hills that collect the rain for fruitful valleys. So it is the hill of difficulties that drives us to the throne of God’s grace and brings down showers of blessings. Acres of bloom are crushed to make a drop of fine perfume. Because of storms that lash the ocean waves, the waters there are kept pure. So too, God’s greatest gifts come through travails. Hence there has been no reform, no beneficent discovery, no soul-awakening revival which has not come through toils and tears. Faith itself grows stronger only in trials. Some of God’s graces would never have been discovered if it were not for the trials. Afflictions are often
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the black folds in which God sets the jewels of his graces so that they may better shine. Any fervent Christian can attest to the fact that our faith never looks so grand in summer weather, as it does in winter. Faith is like love which is too often like a glow-worm which shines brightly only in the midst of surrounding darkness. Storms are caused by conflicts of elements. So too, the storms of the spiritual world are conflicts with hostile elements: hardships and buffetings, persecutions and misunderstandings, troubles and distress. If a believer willingly passes through them as God wants, he or she will come out shining. The pathway of sorrow leads to joy, suffering to healing, tears to smiles, trials to victories and conflicts to peace. Do we want to be great instruments in the hands of God? Then let us look at a mechanic. He wants his tools made of the staunchest tree, and such a giant tree is not found in the shelter of forest but out in the open where the winds from every quarter beat upon it. So too, to become a giant instrument for God’s service, the road a believer has to travel is not along the sunny lane with wild flowers of comforts but steep, rocky, and narrow pathway of hardships. “It is cynicism and fear that freeze life; it is faith that thaws it out, releases it and sets it free.” (Fosdick)
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We believe God is in every tomorrow “When he has brought out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them.” (Jn 10:4)
We believe that Jesus walks before us as the oriental shepherd was always ahead of his sheep. This means that all the tomorrows of our life have to take Jesus into account before they get to us. In this sense, God is in every tomorrow. Fear of future is a horrid thing which keeps us apart from today’s life instead of participating in it. Since God is going before us, at the next sunrise, we will find guidance and strength for tomorrow, power for each moment of weakness, hope for each moment of pain, comfort for every sorrow. We believe that the Lord who goes before us is leading us with a purpose. The way may be rough, but we believe that it is the right way to the pasture. It may not be a straight path but we believe that it is the path that leads somewhere, to the right place. God is guiding us in every step to a safe future through the shadow of his hands. There is a service in the shadow that is not in the sunlight. Some brand of corn never grows more rapidly than in the shadow of a warm summer night. The stellar beauty is never seen at its best until the shadows of night slip over the sky. So too God is guiding us through shadows: the shadowed chamber of sickness, the shadowed house of mourning, the shadowed life from which all hope is gone. Because we are in the shadow, we need not conclude
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that God has cast us aside. We are still in his quiver. He has not flung us away as worthless arrows. If we have truly entrusted our future to the charge of God, we should keep our hands off it when it is shaken, believing God will guard it for us better than we can. Things may be going all wrong but we believe that He knows it as well, and will arise in the right moment. God has undertaken to work his sovereign will on us, and hence, inactivity on our part, at times, is a masterly approach. On the contrary, nothing would be so hurtful for our future as our restless working, if something goes out of gear. “Even at the last, security which we seek is of faith, not of knowledge; it is not won by intellectual grasp but by personal loyalty; and its test is not in logic only, but in life.” (William Temple)
We believe God is in our defeats “Thanks be to God who always gives us in Christ a part in his triumphal procession.” (2 Co 2:14)
Life is not a straight line pattern moving us from success to success; rather it is often two steps forward and one step backward. Therefore, defeats are part of life’s menu and if we are wise we would never like to miss out on any of the courses. Defeats may serve us as well as victories.
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As the trunk of a great oak straining in the wind sends down deeper roots, so our defeats come to stretch out spaces in our hearts for greater joy. We must, of course, take steps to improve the situation when there are personal or professional defeats. But we must also believe that God is in our defeats. God seems to get his greatest victories for us out of apparent defeats. We believe that God who wants us to be victors, not victims, governs the world and hence we have only to do our duty wisely and leave the rest to him. “Faith is intuitive. It is a given certainty that the forces on our side are greater than the forces opposed to us. In Christian language, this is faith in God.” (HA Williams)
We believe holy audacity is better than human timidity “As soon as the priests carrying the ark of Yahweh have set the sole of their feet in the waters of the Jordan, the waters will be cut off.” (Jos 3:13)
Led by Joshua, the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant. As the Lord had promised, when the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water, the waters stopped, the priests stood firm on dry ground, and the people passed over opposite Jericho.
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God does not promise help for us before help is needed. He does not remove obstacles out of our way before we reach them. We are not to panic at the mere sight of adversity. We are not to expect God to make the way plain miles and miles before it gets rough. We have to get to the waters and into the floods before we can claim God’s promise. Have a look at an eagle who sits on the edge of the precipice watching the dark clouds overhead filling the sky. Never moving a feather, he sits perfectly still, as the lightning plays back and forth. It is only when he feels the first burst of breeze that he knows the hurricane has struck him. And at that instant, with a scream he swings his breast to the storm. Using the storm itself, he soars upward into the black sky. Likewise, riding on the very difficulties we are in, we are called to respond to God’s upward calling. A moment comes when every bird must begin to try the air. So too, there comes a moment in our Christian journey when we ought to get off the perch of seeming safety into the apparent void of faith. The little bird may feel very like falling while in the air for the first time, but it does not fall for the air is there. And the air is not unsubstantial, as it seems. Even if it were about to fall, the parent bird sweeps under and bears the young bird upon its wings. So too, God will bear us when we feel like falling under the weight of a life that lives by faith in the invisible realities. God has promised that he will save
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Why Worry Understanding the capacity we all have to worry and fret, Fr Lawson shows that within our anxieties may often lie a doubt, a reluctance even, to believe that we have a Father in heaven who loves us and provides for us. As St Paul had to learn, a father ‘whose grace is sufficient for me’. This inspired and wise little pamphlet, first published nearly 60 years ago, will help many people, whoever, wherever, and whatever worries may be calling them to look towards Christ. Do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself.
ISBN: 978 085183 233 3 CTS Code: Do 214
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Spiritual Warfare Every Christian is engaged in an ongoing struggle against the self, and against temptation, striving to gain the blessings of the Kingdom of God. This booklet enlightens the struggle by searching the wisdom of the scriptures. It gives hope to everyone, because Christ is always by our side to help us in every battle, and he has already defeated death and sin. The Deeper Christianity Series delves into the mysteries of Christianity, opening up the spiritual treasures of the Church. Vivian Boland, OP is Master of Students for the English Dominicans, lectures in theology at St Mary’s, Twickenham and Blackfriars, Oxford. He also preaches retreats, and writes on theology and spirituality.
ISBN: 978 1 86082 421 0 CTS Code: Sp 16