Beyond Optimism: When All Hope Seems Lost

Having relied upon her natural optimism throughout life, Debra Black reflects upon the true hope that can only come from our loving God.

For the Jubilee of Hope, our writers reflect on prayer as a source of hope in their lives.

Those who suffer in accord with God’s will hand their souls over to a faithful creator as they do good. (1 Peter 4:19)

I have always been an optimistic person. For me, there was always a light at the end of the tunnel. Even if a situation seemed unfixable, I believed God would eventually make things ok. The downfall to my optimistic nature was over-confidence in my own ability to straighten crooked paths and less reliance upon God to do this for me.

A Loss of Optimism, But Not of Hope

Then a situation arose that literally tore my heart in two. In doing so, I lost my perpetual optimism and struggled to understand hope. I quickly came to realize that faith is what keeps us going forward when our heart is frozen in pain. Optimism is a natural sentiment of the human heart. We hope that our actions and choices, and those of the people we love, will turn out as planned or hoped for. Optimism is “hope that sees for itself” (Romans 8:24). It is temporary and deficient. In contrast, true hope comes from God, has its focus on God as its ultimate end, and it hopes for God’s intercession in daily life. Faith births hope.

It is through hope that we have the endurance to continue persevering beyond all human optimism. We demonstrate our belief through hope. It is the virtue of trust, trusting in our Lord above all else; it is given to us by God for the purpose of us returning it to Him. When we embrace this gift, we are receiving and experiencing His covenantal love. He wants us to experience His love in this very moment and hope is our trust in that promise.

It is through our hope that our suffering means something. While the circumstances of our suffering may be out of our control, hope reminds us that these are not beyond His power. Importantly, hope directs us to recognize and keep front of mind that which is within our control: trusting this suffering will have some meaning, and that even the worst of evils cannot prevent God from transforming it, purposing it to the good.

Hope Brings Confidence

Because the nature of hope is perfection and permanence, from it we develop a steadfast confidence that is rooted in God. Confidence in Him is itself a way of praising and glorifying Him. This makes our prayers to Him more efficacious.

The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. (1 Peter 5:10)

It is through hope that we are strengthened and restored, receiving the grace of God’s glory now so that we may persevere to live in His glory for eternity. Hope brings us in union with God; the more we hope, the more hope we attain. It is this certainty that gives us confidence.

In other words, it is hope that brings forth the wellspring of gifts and graces we seek in life.

But how does one maintain that confidence in desolation and despondency? Hope increases our energy and courage to go forward in our daily tasks and duties even when the heart is suffocating in what it perceives as isolation. The enemy will increase that desolation with negative thoughts — the "universal negative" that leads us to think the challenges in life cannot and never will be resolved to the good. So we become blinded to the very thing we need to pull us out of despair: hope. If hope is embraced in times of consolation, and virtuous habits formed, then in desolation those habits will help us stay directed towards God. But we can only do so with renewed effort to believe in Sacred Scripture. Scripture is God’s very Word to us of His power, goodness, and personal love for us, all of which are what we hope for.

When all hope seems lost:

Reject the desolation and turn to God recalling His truth that counters the lies spoken by the enemy (Spiritual Exercises 320).

Reach for your Bible and ask Him to renew your belief in His Word, for faith is the substance of hope.

Pray on Christ’s Ascension into Heaven, the second of the Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, the fruit of which is hope.

In the moment of desolation, examen yourself for God’s action in that moment (Spiritual Exercises 319). Recognize that He is sustaining your very breath and ask Him for the gift of awe of Him.

God’s past mercies are a pledge of those to come. (Saint Vincent de Paul, cited by Adolphe Tanqueray in The Spiritual Life 566).

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God refills our empty soul with love so that we can reside in it not only for ourselves but to also share with others. The fruit of this is an interior peace that comforts us even if our emotions still run high — or conversely — are frozen in trauma. The virtue of hope keeps us living both in Heaven, by God’s active grace in our life, and for Heaven with the confidence this brings. Hope truly does spring eternal.