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                There is something about our human nature that finds it difficult to believe in the good.  We seem to find it fairly easy to believe in the bad.  But the kind of faith that looks to the future with an expectation of good is rare indeed.

                This tendency is reflected in our speech.  We describe some things as “too good to be true.”  But how often have you heard something described as “too bad to be true?”  That is not how we think.  For many, the bad is readily believable, but the good is almost unbelievable.

                This tendency is, of course, not a new thing.  Many people, perhaps most people, are inclined to look to the future with a spirit of despair.  They expect the worst and have little or no faith in the best.  As they perceive it, civilization is locked into a downward glide, like an airplane falling from the sky.  The power is gone.  The pilot is helpless.  The crash is sure to come.  It is only a question of time.  You can hear this mood reflected at times in our music.  It is also reflected in our figure of speech.  Many people, especially as we grow older, dream and talk of the “good old days.”  That phrase clearly indicates a belief that the best days are behind us, these are the bad times, and the worst times are yet to come. 

                This type of thinking debilitates our capacity to cope with life.  If things are going to get worse and worse and there is nothing that anyone can do about it, why should we even bother to try?  If war is inevitable, why work and pray for peace?  If crime and poverty are here to stay and are sure to get worse, then why work and pray for a more just society? 

                This thinking is consistent with the Biblical message in general, and our Catholic faith, in particular.  The God of the Bible is a God of purpose, a God with a plan.  He did not create this world and populate it with people just to see what would happen.  He knew what would happen.  He had a goal in mind.  The goal has not changed, and He is still moving toward it. 

                Perfection and fulfillment are always out in the future and never back in the past.  The creation story in the book of Genesis is not a picture of perfection.  It is a picture of a beginning, an incomplete beginning.  There in the Garden of Eden, God started a great adventure that required the cooperation of people.  That adventure is still going on, and the purpose of it all is still out there in the future.

                God is taking His world where He wants it to go.  And nothing can stop Him. 

                This is a brutal world and living in it is risky business.  We need to b reminded that this is God’s world, and that He is active in it.  If we keep that in mind, we will face the future, not with despair, but with hope, because in God’s world, nothing it too good to be true.