Archbishop of Sydney

His Eminence,
Cardinal George Pell
Cardinal Priest of the Title of S. Maria Domenica Mazzarello

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Home > Our Archbishop > Sunday Telegraph Column 2002 > Article	Printable Version

Hope

By + George Pell
ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
13 January 2002

Recently a was greeted by a young child and his family after Mass. He talked freely and told me a couple of times that he was nearly six years old. Eventually a asked when he had celebrated his fifth birthday. His older sister answered for him. "Yesterday" she said.

He will probably grow up to be an optimist, because of his cheerful, outgoing personality and, equally important, because of the love and security he receives from his family.

All of us have also met older people, who remain serene and optimistic, sometimes after a life of considerable suffering. Most of them know the score, know what life is like and yet remain loving and confident, sustained by the bright side of life.

It is often explained that the pessimist sees the glass as half empty, while the optimist sees the same glass as half full. A better place to begin in understanding the virtue of hope is to notice whether the pessimist is self centred, weighed down by his own problems, unaware of the greater problems of others and hardly noticing his own blessings, taking the good things of his life for granted. This is often the case.

Sometimes too pessimism is only skin deep, a way of complaining about lesser challenges which people enjoy. In my home town of Ballarat in Victoria which has a cold winter, faces will light up as they complain about the weather. "Terrible day, isn't it?" "Yes," will come the smiling reply.

Another friend of mine often likes to look on the dark side of things and was known by his students as "silver lining" because of his regular insistence that every silver lining has a cloud!

Sometimes too depression or pessimism is not a spiritual quality at all, but a physical disease, sometimes a chemical imbalance, which can be treated by medicines. Some people have felt wretched for years, presumed this was how things had to be and never sought any medical help. They were wonderfully helped by doctors.

Unfortunately Christians too are sometimes gloomy and pessimistic. But these are the exceptions to the Christian rule. Without underestimating the immense variety in personal temperaments and family and social backgrounds, Christians should be among the most hopeful of people.

There are many reasons for this. Christians believe that the world was created and is sustained by a Supreme Intelligence, who is well disposed towards each one of us, rich or poor, good or bad. Therefore all history has a meaning and purpose.

Christians believe that good can come out of suffering, which can be more than a brute fact, incapable of moral significance.

It is a Christian belief too that the worst crimes and sins can be forgiven by God, when there is sorrow and repentance. Perhaps the strongest, most powerful Christian teaching is that even moral monsters like Hitler, Stalin, Mao could be forgiven if they repented. Many people are dragged down because they cannot forgive themselves and know nothing of God's forgiveness.

Christianity promises life after death for all people of good will.

Christianity offers meaning to our lives, a reason for persevering through our inadequacies, disappointments and suffering.

As the French politician, writer and adventurer, Andre Malraux wrote, "No atheist can explain the smile of a child".