A Faith for Optimists

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13)

Those of us who encourage others to read the Bible, especially the New Testament and Psalms for guidance and comfort, understand that the advice will not always be heeded. People in a state of depression often like to think that nothing and nobody can help, not even the Lord revealed in the sacred scriptures. What a pity. They would find in Jesus Christ the answers to their problems, consolation and healing of their spiritual afflictions, healing of their sorrows and anxieties. It’s all so possible, even when things go horribly wrong.

Consider the life’s trials of St. Paul who wrote that formula for joy. He is always filled with optimism and hope, regardless of the trials he had to endure. Read the list of his sufferings: “countless beatings, and often near death. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and in nakedness” (II Corinthians 11:23-29). Yet he never allowed himself the luxury of self-pity. He had optimism to spare for his disciples and those he had brought to the faith in the One Who conquered death and Who lives in us, ready to come to our aid and take us to His heavenly Father.

I’m reminded of the great impresario and organizer of the Russian artists and performers who lived in exile from their native land in the last century, Sergei Diaghilev, organizer of Ballet Russe. He had an invincible optimism. He attributed it to his stepmother, who taught him: “Never say cannot. It is a word you must forget. For when one wants to, one can!”

Christianity is based on success and victory, even in the most dire of circumstances. What could be worse than the divine plan of the Holy Trinity sending one of the Three Persons to enter time and space as a human being, only to be arrested, brought to several trials, to endure the humiliating treatment, abuse, torture, beatings, and finally the ignominious death by crucifixion of our Lord, God and Savior. Yet then there is the realization that the worst done to Him was not enough to prevent the great triumph of His resurrection, making a new life in God for His followers.

All too many parents feel themselves failures. They go to Church and live decent lives, but they feel forgotten and forsaken by the Lord. Worse, they project that spirit of negativism and defeatism on their children. I cannot understand it, but I realize to my sorrow it’s all too true. Compare the way that the Jewish people in our nation of opportunity have helped one another in all ways possible to advance. It’s delightful that Afro-Americans have made black a badge of honor and have emulated the Jews in raising their race to succeed by learning how to work the political system and media to their advantage. But it hasn’t happened for the Orthodox Christians.

Decades ago we sought recognition as the fourth major faith. We were told that’s impossible. America separates church from state; therefore, no religion is officially recognized, even though Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Judaism are somehow the menu offered up. Now in the new millennium we find that Islam is taught in the public schools, not as a religion but as a social system one must understand as a present reality. Providentially, the Orthodox Church, accused of caesaropapism, collusion with the state, is on its own in America. This is God’s will. Despite it all, I urge our brother and sisters in the Orthodox Church never to give in but to trust that all of this, even our existence incognito in our nation, is somehow part of the divine plan for ourselves and for the world we live in.