Bryan Ung
Residing in a neighborhood where “Calçada Portuguesa” is part of the ambience, every day, as I walk through these streets, I notice the patterns—above all, the waves—which gently remind me: “I am a descendant of the sailors, that I can live a life with the same courage as them.” My heart is always moved when I read the early life of Saint Josemaria Escrivá—the way he dealt with all the difficulties, misunderstanding and doubts from others while living the Will of God faithfully through his life and actions. In his course on the topic of Hope, the current prelate of Opus Dei, Monsignor Don Fernando Ocariz said: “It is difficult to be holy without effort; therefore, the life of sanctification is arduous.” I found this deeply resonant. Living in the middle of the world requires many struggles in many aspects. Temptations concerning money, promotion, attraction, gossips, etc — these are nonetheless real. And what is more common is the daily temptation of “laying down (躺平)”: to be lazy, procrastinate, to avoid responsibilities, to find excuses, and to remain silent or indifferent when matters contradict my Christian values. In other words, the comfort zone is something that can appear at any time of the day.
Here, the “WHY” question comes: I know holiness in ordinary life requires struggles in every moment, but why do I need to struggle in very instant? Why not procrastinate a little? Why not submit a project that is less well done just to make life a bit easier? What do I go to confession for when I fall? Why begin again and again? What are the “WHYs”? As times goes by, here is my “WHYs” I discovered:
To fulfill the tasks of each moment is, for me, a way to encounter Him and to respond to His caII to holiness. Jesus said: “and behold I am with you all days” (Matthew 28:20). This is our way of communicating, because I am aware that whenever I procrastinate, or whenever I fail to concentrate in that instant, it is rejecting the moment, and, in the end, rejecting myself. I reject the practice of virtues, I reject the opportunities to realize my potentials and qualities, I reject the actual grace of God in that moment and in the end, rejecting Him. “Heart in the Cross, Heart in the Cross”— the way to find Happiness.
To conquer oneself requires courage/fortitude. “Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear” (CCC 808).
To do this once in a while is easy, but what about doing it every day, in the remains of my days? I am aware that this is precisely a calling to me — and to you. And to respond to this call, I need bigger WHYs. Eventually I come to realize, surprisingly, it is the grace of Hope at work in me that enables me to struggle continuously— joy and peace.
For me, hope is not an emotion, it is an action. Hope is different from naive optimism. Naive optimism is a way of thinking that ignores reality and assumes everything will work out perfectly. In psychology, hope is the combination of a strong will to succeed and actionable plans to reach a goal. Hope is an active, driving force that transforms belief into practice. Contrary to what many might think, hope drives me forwards everyday, every instant.
The following is my personal reflection on the benefits of living a life of hope:
Hope creates time. A hopeful person “creates time” by
(i) setting intentional micro-goals;
(ii) visualizing a positive future;
(iii) proactively taking action rather than being passive;
(iv) actively choose to make room for what matters, allowing themselves to achieve more by trusting their goals.
Yes, a person with hope achieves more! Psychological and sociological research shows that hope is an active, learnable skill that drives tangible progress rather than passive wishing. Hope leads me to be an active doer and an achiever. We need hope to succeed, and we need even more hope to succeed more!
In my favorite movie, “The Shawshank Redemption”, the protagonist, while in prison, says “Hope is a good thing”. Can one still live a good life by desiring good and beautiful things in prison? So how can I have hope when what happens around me is not always pleasant? This is where the theological virtue of Hope—Supernatural Hope, a relation with Our Lord—takes place.
As a local, betting is in my veins. I love to bet—not by spending time in casinos with the dealer, but by spending time in a Catholic Church, before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus said: “for without me you can do nothing” (John15:5). There is a portuguese saying that: “nothing ventured, nothing gained (quem não arrisca, não pestica).” Thus, I go “all in” with Him! For He is the very source of my Hope—Hope founded on something unshakable: His steadfast love for each one of us, His faithfulness, His reliability, and the fact He never loses battles. With a contemplative outlook, I believe that all the little acts of love of each day are never wasted and are pleasing to Him.
Our awareness of divine filiation strengthens our hope, as Saint Josemaria Escrivá explains in one of his homilies: “In my case, and I wish the same to happen to you, the certainty I derive from feeling — from knowing — that I am a son of God fills me with real hope which, being a supernatural virtue, adapts to our nature when it is infused in us, and so is also a very human virtue” (Friends of God, no. 208). It is what enables us to hope in something which, although difficult, is yet possible: that we can become saints — a definitive, complete union with God.
Hope is indispensable in spiritual life, in the ascetical struggle, when we need to begin and begin again. Our hope is not founded on our own strength, but His grace. All events of the day help me to “see” him, contemplating him. In conclusion, in the movie mentioned above, the full phrase is as follows “Don’t forget, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” Living in the World like as if we are living in heaven, that is, in union with Him, is why we are here on Earth. It is possible. Try!
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