On Hope in these (and all) times

Stefan McDaniel of First Things with the bon mot of the day:

No one should trivialize the current economic crisis, which poses a real threat to the well-being of people around the world. But “crisis” quickly moves from being an unpleasant fact that we must face to a poisonous climate of anxiety that we breathe. In order to maintain perspective, I’ve shut myself off from the unremitting commentary, speculation and polemic generated (especially in the blogosphere) and turned to the writings of Benedict XVI.

As far as I know, Benedict has not said much about our present troubles, but in The Yes Of Jesus Christ he suggests that the periods of intense panic that occasionally wash over us are symptoms of the godless modern worldview.

... At moments of crisis like this, when it seems our god has failed, we sharply and suddenly lose our modern “hope.” Benedict writes:

Optimism is only the facade of a world without hope that is trying to hide from its own despair with this deceptive sham. This is the only explanation for the immoderate and irrational anxiety, this traumatic and violent fear that breaks out when some setback or accident in technological or economic development casts doubt on the dogma of progress.

Doubt is very much in the air. If, heaven forbid, things get much worse, we will see whether it is in God or in Western prosperity that we have really placed our trust.

Hope: always needful.

Want to know why? Two headlines:

• WaMu Fails, Is Sold Off to J.P. Morgan - Biggest Banking Collapse in U.S. History; Government Arranges a Deal to Safeguard Huge Thrift's Deposits, Branches
• AP: Bailout deal stalls as Republican lawmakers revolt