A strong mind endures all suffering. The strength of mind is acquired through faith and hope. When one loses them in life, it is quite natural for the mind to become weak and frail. In today’s life, man thinks strength and power comes from money, good Job, status in the society, education, power over others established by hook or crook etc. In such a situation, human life becomes much sophisticated and society in general individualistic. Everyone calculates his status by totalling the likes and comments he/she receives in the social media platform. They are not living in an actual situation of reality. They are drowning in the fantasy of the virtual world. But still they are lonely, stressed, weary and in confusion. Truth, proper conscience, righteousness etc. are considered outdated and are overlooked. Unable to accept hardships and failures and unwilling to share with others their anxieties, they become vulnerable and often carry a wounded ego. This slowly leads to depression, obsessive compulsive disorders and suicidal tendencies. What’s worse, there is no age limit to this Phenomenon. It varies from school Children to grandparents, the illiterate to the highly educated, the jobless to those in high profile jobs. Psychologists often say that they do not know how to handle this kind of messy situations they come across; how to find a solution to the crisis?
We often propose faith and hope in life as solutions. Most often one comes across these words in the context of religions. These words have both a psychological and a religious dimension. In the agrarian field, the present and future of life depends mostly on the mercy of nature i.e. mercy of God who directs and controls every movement of life. When the rhythm of seasons workout according to the calculations of the farmer, everything turns out pleasant and balanced. But when the rhythm gets broken, everything goes out of control. The same is true of life as a whole. When balancing and unbalancing, rhythmic and non-rhythmic situations occur, the simple and religious farmer believes that God will not abandon him… The next time everything will be normal. This factor of life’s experiences is foreign to the artificial technological world driven by AI. In the techy world, they think that what is lost is lost forever. Children who grow up in this ATAI (Artificial Technological and Artificial Intelligence) world lack the proper non-coloured and non-fictional aims in life. Both children and adults become prey to two dangerous symptoms – Nature Deficiency Syndrome (NDS) and Relation deficiency Syndrome (RDS). In such situations living with others taking up responsibilities with futuristic vision that contributes to wellbeing of humanity slowly disappears.
Let us think of the Resurrection of Jesus, his death, passion, public life and ministry and his incarnation or the fact of being with us in the light of these current realities. Jesus’ ultimate aim of living in this world was to lead everyone to a new realm of life, ‘the kingdom of God’. For that Jesus emptied himself. He taught that suffering and humiliation are a necessary part of this earthly sojourn. His commitment was to do the will of his Father. He held on to the hope that the Father would not abandon him. God did not abandon him. Resurrection after suffering and death was the witness and fruit of his mission. Jesus’ ultimate trust in God helped him to withstand and endure every trial, abandonment and betrayal.
This is our hope: Receive everything that comes in our life as the will of the almighty. That will give us the strength to endure every hardship as part of reaching our prime goal. One who has hope shall convincingly say: “I don’t care who belittles me; in the face of adversities, I would rather stand with God than stand with the world.” Rejections, failures, defeats and side-lining are not indications of one’s inexistence; rather, it is only a test for establishing one’s authentic existence. This is why Jesus said: Destroy this temple and I shall rebuild it in three days’ time. It is to encourage and to impart hope that Jesus said: “If the grain of wheat does not fall in the muddy ground, a new life with new energy shall not sprout out (Jn 12 :). The resurrection of Jesus teaches that nothing is more powerful than hope, nothing is stronger than faith and nothing is greater than God. So, what one needs is dedication and sacrifice to achieve the goal. The resurrection is seen not just as a historical event, but as a present, living reality that empowers believers to face daily challenges with hope and a sense of purpose.
