SOME people fear tomorrow because they are sure that it can only bring more of today. The lonely person may fear that tomorrow will only bring more loneliness. Those who are sick may fear that tomorrow will simply bring more pain.

When I worked in engineering, one of the worst jobs I had was working on a production line. The task was to cut off lengths of metal on a machine all day. To cut each one took only half a minute, so each day consisted in endlessly cutting off more bars and loading the machine again. I can remembering almost fearing the next day because it could only bring more monotony. Fortunately, for me, I was only on that job for a few weeks. Others, I know, have to face such monotony for a large part of their working life.

Sometimes we can change our tomorrows. We can try for other jobs, for example. Or, if we are lonely, we can make an effort to befriend others to relieve our own situation. Life is, after all, partly what we make it. But sometimes we can't make the changes we long for. In these circumstances it takes a lot of courage to face each new day. To accept our own circumstances and yet to rise above them in faith and hope is something that does not come easy.

One of the greatest privileges I have as a priest is to see people rising to the challenge. So very often it is the people who have very little left to hope for who are the most hopeful of people. Some people have such faith in God and in themselves that they can face their fear of tomorrow and even bring hope to others. When I meet such people I am refreshed. I also wonder whether, if I were in the same circumstances, I would cope as well as they do.

This is where trusting in God becomes difficult. It is easy to trust in God when all things are going well. It is easy to trust in God when we can see ways of changing our tomorrows. But when we have to face a difficult tomorrow that we know we cannot change, that is when faith in God becomes difficult. It drives us either to give up faith altogether, or to find new depths of faith within ourselves to cope. The deepest kind of faith is having faith when situations become impossible.