Seeking signs of hope...and finding them!
By Father Larry Kramer of St. Paul of the Cross Catholic Church
Sometimes when you’re in the middle of something, it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. 
When you struggle with the loss of a job, an unexpected illness or injury or any of a number of problems that can crowd into your life, a big-picture or long range view is difficult to manage. But that is the only approach, it seems to me, to take. “How does this situation look to God?” is a good question to ask. Once I see how everything fits together, I can more easily tackle one part at a time and remember that I have divine help as I do it.
An important part of this big-picture approach is to look for signs of hope, and they do exist. One sign of hope in the present world-wide economic crisis, is the fact that American lawmakers of opposing political parties are starting to come together on huge problems that were formerly considered too big to face—like an inflated and mismanaged military budget and relations with loosely governed countries who are developing nuclear weaponry.
Another sign of hope is that people who have never thought they were able to save money are now doing so. They have discovered that “Just do it” is not a bad slogan to go by. Others who have lost employment have dug in and started small businesses or scaled down expenses dramatically and gone on Social Security earlier than they had planned to. Some without insurance have met with doctors and worked out budget plans instead of neglecting their health.
Still anther sign of hope is from a totally unexpected source—the world’s multi-billionaires. A number of the richest ones have agreed to go far beyond their usual charitable contributions in view of widespread poverty. They have agreed to donate one half of their total wealth to charity. It is hard to imagine what even one billion amounts too—a million times a thousand. That total gift will make only a slight dent in world poverty but is certainly a step in the right direction.