Realistic Optimism: A Call to Personal Sanctity

In our meditation of the week: Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on St. Josemaria Escriva's teaching on realistic optimism— omnia in bonum- the confidence that Christ has already conquered all on our behalf, and that by uniting ourselves to him through prayer, we can overcome any challenge and participate in his victory. 

Drawing from John 16:33, he reminds us of Christ’s words: “In the world you will have affliction. But take courage; I have overcome the world.” This triumph is not just a past event but a present reality, accessible to us when we live in union with him. As Romans 8:28 assures, “All things work for the good of those who love God,” a truth that calls us to trust in divine providence, even in adversity. 


View Transcript  
Visit Show Page 

Transcript

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins, and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me. 

The top-the topic of our conversation with Our Lord is a phrase that was written by St. Josemaria, at least there's an instruction writing of his. Basically evangelizing the world vis a vis married people in the middle of the world, and he speaks about realistic optimism. That realistic optimism is rooted in the fact that God loves us. And we can embellish on St. Paul's admonition to those early Christians who had a hard life, to put it very mildly. They certainly complicated their lives by becoming Christian in that hostile environment. And he made it clear in Romans 8:28, “All things work out for the best for those who love God.”

And the summary of that phrase in Latin, it's- St. Josemaria says omnia in bonum, that was one of his mottos. Omnia in bonum means - it's taken from that verse, “All things work out for those who love God.” And so we need to be optimistic. Well, last time we checked Our Lord is that victory that has overcome the world and nothing has changed, but we need to penetrate that.

One of his last words, this is from the Last Supper, addressed to his closest followers. He wraps up his teaching, that's followed by his priestly prayer for unity. But these, basically, this is his last instruction, “These things I have spoken to you that in me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have affliction.” It's kind of anti-brainwashing. “You sure you want to get into this? You're going to suffer. They're going to hate you. You're going to- what they do to- what they do to me, they're going to do to you. No, it's not going to be smooth sailing. You sure you want to go through with this?” “In this, in the world you will have affliction, but take courage. I have overcome the world.”

So that realistic optimism, and what does it mean? In case you know, you've had a lot of intense formation and before there's a collective pious coma out there, this means that the Kingdom goes forward with the cooperation of Jesus’ followers. If he didn't need followers, he wouldn't say, “Be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” If he didn't need followers, he wouldn't say, “Preach the gospel to all nations.” If a hostile courage, maybe without the external violence of the ancient times, but nevertheless, there's serious obstacles, where now natural law is seen- is professed as an infringement on human rights. 
When you speak about objective moral truths that have been around for millennia, even before Christ, you are hostile to the prospect of human freedom, quality of life, and not going to get into politics, but it gives you pause when an essential part of someone's platform is destruction of human life. And what's even more discour- disconcerting is when a significant part of the population embraces that with a self-righteous anger when that is contradicted. When the concept of tolerance is bandied about so much, but a serious Christian becomes a victim of intolerance because he or she does not have a right to speak according to Christian principles. 

So, there's obstacles out there. Maybe we want to say, instead of those harsh external obstacles that our first brothers and sisters faced, we have the same obstacles but in a maybe a more pseudo sophisticated way. And I need to be optimistic about my own holiness, because holiness, we try to bring that point across, personal holiness and preaching the Gospel are the same reality from different sides of the coin.

One gentleman, matter of fact it was at the- maybe some of you were there- at the Midtown-Metro Gala. My pastoral specialty has now become galas, not only Funeral Masses, but galas as well. I have another gala in Houston. Uhm, and he was honored, this gentleman. And he said something, well, it got people thinking, if people were awake after, you know, wine and meal, you know, good dinner and everything and long night. 

And he said- he invited- he invited himself, invited everybody else, quoting some Irish convert, contemporary Irish convert who was atheist and now he's a serious Catholic, and he's quoting him. And basically, this Irish convert, he was Northern Ireland. His name is North King [Paul Kingsnorth]. I guess that's an Irish name, North King. Uhm, and his article, well this Irish guy's article appeared in First Things in the next issue, that's what he said. 

But anyway, basically he said you know, this work of evangelization is rooted, he’s not reinventing the wheel, that’s for sure. No, he seems like he is, but it’s based on personal renewal, personal transformation. And that's what Jesus says. It's an overflow of our personal everlasting life. When he has that beautiful conversation with the Samaritan woman, who becomes, at least according to numbers, she becomes the greatest evangelizer of Our Lord's public life. 

And she brings a whole town to him. And she had very little going for her. I mean, she was married five times, living with a man. And you know, you- the average mortality rate would be 30s in those days. So, that's a lot of marriage within a few years. He can tell she's a poor woman, probably a servant woman, fetching water. She's a Samaritan. So, she doesn't really cut it with the chosen people.

And Our Lord approaches her and puts himself in a position of inferiority. “I need you to give me a drink.” Did he really need a drink? Yes, because realistic optimism is that Our Lord's success depends on my cooperation. He does the heavy lifting. No question about it. Without the grace of God- he makes it very clear, “Without me, you could do nothing, but without you, I do much little.” Let's put it that way.

In an absolute sense, God could do anything he wants, but that's how he's planned. Did he need her? Yes, and he needed her to open the door. She started to pray. Didn't realize she was praying, but she was praying, “Give me a drink.” And so, they got into a conversation. She began to pray. And when we do just a little commercial break, when we do apostolate with our friends, our family members, step number one is get that person to pray. And once that person prays, that person now is in better position to repent. I mean, the Gospel is all about, depends how you look at it, it's all vignettes of Jesus’ friends who repent. But all that repentance begins with them opening up the door. They have a relationship with- whether it's Nicodemus, whether it's the apostles, whether it's Zacchaeus, whether it's the guy on his right, on the Cross, Demas, they all pray. And then they become repentant. They- they form a relationship with him. 

And so, I just want, I'm not going to comment on the- on the Samaritan woman too much, but again, this is a long conversation, and she's kind of blown away that he's actually talking to her. And he's a Jewish man, and he could figure out that she's of- of a humble background, and but he talks to her, and “Can you give me a favor? I'm thirsty, I'm tired. Can you give me a drink? I need you to cooperate with me. And if you cooperate with me, you're going to do great things.” 

And so he- she approaches him, and Our Lord says, “If you knew the gift of God, who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked of him living water.” And he says here, “The water that you will drink, you will thirst some more. But everyone who drinks of this water will never thirst again. He will- he however, who drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst, but the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up unto life everlasting.” That is what this is all about. It's an overflow of my interior life. 

And so that realistic optimism, yes optimism, on one hand, if I'm not connected with Our Lord, well, we limit him. Let's put it that way. And there is in the Gospel of St. Mark, and only in the Gospel of St. Mark, where it's cited that Jesus could not work a miracle. It's the only time, at least, I think, I think I'm pretty sure that's the only instance where Jesus could not work a miracle. 

The messiest miracle is the boy who was possessed by an unclean spirit. Then he would throw himself in the ground and roll over and hurt himself and strip himself of clothing and all that. And the apostles did receive certain power from Our Lord. And so, they tried to, they had, they believed that they could cast out the unclean spirit. And I would say that boy represents our society. Because when you sin, sin is a sin because you make a mess out of your life. And a serious sin is when you make a serious mess out of your life.

I remember giving a class in moral theology, and one of my students, high school, said, “Well, now that you've instructed us- that can- instructed us on the conditions of mortal sin, now you've made us culpable. Thanks a lot, Father.” I said, “It doesn’t work that way.” “Well, now if you know better, now you sin. If we didn't know better, we're in the clear.” I said, “You can have diabetes and eat a candy bar, but you're not culpable of making your diabetes worse. You're not culpable. But whether you know better or not, you're going to harm your health. I didn't know that missing Mass on Sunday is wrong. Am I in serious sin or mortal sin? No, you didn't know. You can't sin unless you know what you're doing, but you are harmed by it. You don't examine your conscience. You're never instructed. You're never challenged with the good, you're never challenged with a moral life. You're never introduced to Christ. Yeah, you're losing out big time.”

“Well, I didn't know that marital relations, sexual relations outside of marriage was wrong. Well, now I didn't know better. I mean, everybody does it.” It's still very harmful. I mean, on a guy and a girl in different way. In terms of self-esteem, in terms of, you know, noticing a person, in terms of self- on and on and on. 

So, that's what- that's- that's what we're dealing with. And so, I want to say, “Lord, I want to allow you to work that miracle.” So anyway, there's this, this, this unclean spirit. How do I cast it out? How do I deal with these obstacles, even in the heart of my own family? And don't, you know, don't be in a guilt trip. It happens to everybody. The apostles pull- Our Lord's ticked off. He goes, “Oh, perverse generations, how long do I have to be with you?” Because they didn't believe. Then Peter and the boys pull them aside and say, “Hey, listen, you gave us some power to cast out devils. And we kind of you- we were embarrassed. We couldn't do it.” You know, it was big commotion. You read- read it in the Gospel. And one of the translations I want to go to the, you know, the older translation. And they asked him, “Why couldn't we do it? Okay? He yelled at us for not having faith, on and on and on, okay, well, why couldn't we do it? We've done it before.” And he says, “This kind can only be cast out by prayer and fasting. You weren't holy enough boys. You weren't prayerful enough boys. And I, we almost didn't get a miracle here.”

For whatever it's worth, I'm grateful it didn't happen too often, only happened once, to be honest, that I'm hearing a bunch of confessions. And this lady says, “You know, my friend is in the hospital and she doesn't want to have anything to do with God.” And she said, “If a priest walks into her hospital, but she's dying of cancer, she'll throw them out.” And she said, “You know, I know it's asking a lot.” In other words, do it. “I know it's asking a lot, and I know you're crazy busy, all right?” In other words, I don't care if you're busy. “I know you're crazy busy, and I hate to do this.” No, you don't. “Can you just pop in and just don't talk about religion?”

I did, and we had a conversation, but we didn't talk about religion. I don't know what we talked about, but we didn't talk about religion. And so, I- she thought that was the only time I'd come in. So I came a second time, and I did get thrown out. You know, someone told me, “Well, she doesn't want to see you.” So, I was kind of very disappointed and very saddened, maybe out of pride, but sad nevertheless. This lady is going to die under my watch. You know, I didn't even get up at bat. 

And so, this seminarian is coming to me for spiritual direction. Maybe we should have reversed roles. He said, “How you doing, Father?” I said,” Well, could be better.” “What's going on?” I said, “Well, I visited this woman a couple of times, and she, I got thrown out and doesn't, doesn't want to have anything to do with God, and she could probably die in about two weeks.” “So- oh! Have you said the Rosary for her?” You know my answer was, I said, “Well, to be honest with you, I say the Rosary.” He said, “I didn't ask you that. I said, did you say a Rosary for her?” I said, “No, I haven't.”

“Well, I think that's kind of basic, don't you think Father?” And I said, “Yeah, you're right.” You know, I didn't strangle him. That was another miracle here, and I just took it and I said, “Yeah, you're right.” “Why didn’t you do it?” I go, “Done, I'll do it.”

So anyway, the younger, the younger generation is, you know, that's the hope of the Church. They're pretty hardcore. Well, you know how the story will go. I did. I did pray the Rosary for her, then forgot about her. Now that's forgot about, you know, going to visit her, you know, hoping for the best, that maybe God would touch her heart right before she died. 

Phone call. Uh, from her, somehow she got my number and said, “I'm scared. I'm really scared. Please come to the hospital.” So she received all the sacraments. So, we, I don't know, it's just a very concrete, and I'm not saying, you know, don't get disappointed when you do pray the Rosary that someone not go to confession and not receive the sacraments. It's never wasted. It'll work in different way. But this time, it did work that way. 

And you know, the icing on the cake was I visited her again because she was in a coma after I anointed her and all that. Hit her with all the sacraments I could. She woke up after in her coma, spooked her whole family. She was in a coma for three days, and she says, “Hi Father Peter, let's pray three Hail Mary's.” And then she died. I mean, not right there, but you know, maybe a day later. So as we've been, you know, contemplating my optimism is realistic. It depends on my closeness to you, yeah, you are the victory that has overcome the world. And in the spirit of the prayer life of St. Josemaria, and I want to read this point remembering the time period when he wrote this. He didn't write in 1975 when you had Centers of Opus Dei on every continent. He wrote it when things were tragic. 

You know, the first couple of- okay first- among the first vocations, which were very few, a handful at that, two were killed in battle. In this war, civil war, 7000 priests and religious were executed. He was destitute. He was running for his life, his first Center that he kind of liquidated his family assets to have this first Center. Little did he know that it was across the street from an army barracks, and it was destroyed with a mortar shell. 

And so, on a human level, everything was a tragedy, a tragic, colossal failure. I mean, humanly speaking, naturally speaking, there's never a failure. The Cross is not a failure. And so, this is his mindset in those conditions. This is 1937, 38 when he wrote The Way he says “In ap- in apostolic undertakings, it's very good. It's a duty to consider that,” Excuse me, “Consider what means the world has to offer you. Two plus two equals four. But don't forget even that your calculations must, fortunately include another term, God plus two plus two.” Okay, you see all sorts of good stuff happening. It's kind of easy to say that. And here's one more point, “Cast away that despair produced by the realization of your weakness. It's true. Financially, you are a zero.” He's talking about himself. “And socially, another zero and another in virtues and another in talent. But to the left of these zeros is Christ, and what an immeasurable figure it turns out to be.”

That's the faith the Lord wants. And since we've been always referring to those early Christians, these are letters written to churches. I don't know. Maybe some scripture scholar knows that the First Epistle, the First Letter of St. John, is written to a church; we don't know what it is. The book of Revelation is written to a number of them, they're mentioned. And it's under the persecution of Domitian, Roman emperor who put the early Christians into a severe age of martyrdom. It wasn't initiated by him, but he- he intensified it. And matter of fact, John was supposed to be martyred, but he- but he miraculously lived. He was immersed in a barrel of boiling oil. He survived it, and he was sent off to Patmos. 

So you could see a little bit of PTSD in the book of Revelation, just a bit. Anyway, devils and wars and all that. It was the Holy Spirit writing it, but maybe a little you know, PTSD, just a tad. And so, what does he say? What does John say?

“All that is born of God overcomes the world.” Born of God. What does that mean? Interior life. Put on Jesus Christ, as St. Paul says, “Put him on all that is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world. Our faith.” Now, faith has to be massaged a little bit. It doesn't mean just believing in the Catechism or agreeing with the book I wrote Highlights of the Catholic Faith. It means being a saint. 

I mean, that's the fullness of the faith that comes from the recent Popes. Explicitly, John Paul, Benedict and St. Francis- Pope Francis says the same thing, that faith is a complete following of Christ, totally. That's what faith is. Faith is not just academic agreement, it's not just orthodoxy. It is living it. That to the degree we live it, that degree we live our faith. And when you know, Jesus says that you know if you have faith and you could command a mountain to hurl itself in the sea, he doesn't mean just believing that you could do it. He means walking the walk. He continues. “This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.” Who is it? Who? Now this is kind of very interesting. We're going to finish. “Who is it that overcomes the world?” Kind of interesting. He doesn't say, “Who are they?” Interesting, he doesn't say. “The kingdom of God are mustard seeds.” He is the must, a must- a mustard seeds, it’s in singular. What- Lord, why do you put this in the singular? Who is it that overcomes the world? Is it the Church? Yes, but I want to emphasize personal sanctity. It's the saint. It's the- the individual.

Who is it that overcomes the world, if not he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, he who is committed to being a saint. Last point the people get worried. You know what? So many people are oblivious to Catholic teaching and moral teaching, and you know there's problems in the Church. You know that's going to happen till the end of time, because this, there's a human dimension to the Church. And we could say, you know, without being judgmentally, we don't know what's in the heart of anybody, but St. Paul says it, Jesus says “This is a sinful generation.” We're sinful as well, but we've been blessed with the grace of God and the grace of habitual repentance.

We thank you, Lord, we don't- we're not better than the next person. But the game is with you people, with the lay people. They have the authority to bring people back to the Church because of their vocation. They're in the nooks and crannies of the world. And to make a little bit of a point, it's a point I you know we, we priests, have to model Christ in order to form the laity and deliver the sacraments and help them be well disposed for that. 

I'm not ducking out, but just to make a point, and I'm finished. I don't have to, in a way, in a way, I don't have to walk the walk the way you do. I mean, I mean, you didn't try to figure out, well, you know, what's who's giving the talks, who's giving the classes, who's giving the meditations? “Well, I'm a cooperator. I want to come to a workshop. Hopefully it's decent. You know, the food's going to be good anyway.”

All right, you're going to line up to go to confession. Why? Because the priest is in the name of Jesus Christ will forgive my sins, whether I like them or not, I'm going to go, you know, I got to go to Mass on Sunday. You know, that's a serious obligation, and hopefully the homily won't be redundant and a colossal bore, and maybe I'll get something out of it. But I'm not going- I'm going because this is part of my calling as a Christian. 

But, but if you're going to bring someone back to Our Lord, you got it a little harder than me, you've got to inspire them. Not because you're a great guy, not because you're talented, but because there's- I see Christ in this person, this vessel of clay, I see Christ. And that only happens if I pray and embrace the Cross, because Our Lord overcomes the world through individual sanctity. 

Anyway, we close our prayer going to the Blessed Mother. We ask her for- we thank her first for the graces she has showered on us during this special time of fraternity, of prayer and but we ask her to bless us with the grace through her intercession, with an urgency to become holy because the happiness, the salvation, perhaps of many, will depend on my union with her Son.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations which you have communicated to me in this meditation. I ask your help to put them into effect. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.