History teaches us that sometimes events happen which are totally unpredictable and their occurrence verges on the seemingly impossible. Communism and the other ideologies of the 20th century, Nazism and Marxism and, in a similar manner, today’s secularist and liberal thought, have regarded Christ and his gospel as an enemy tobe fought against using allmeans available.

Thus, after the Bolshevik revolution, Christians in the Soviet Union were ruthlessly persecuted and hundreds of thousands, mostly members of the Orthodox Church, were executed or sent to labour camps to waste away.

However, at the height of World War II, when Nazi armies had penetrated deep into Russian soil, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin did the unthinkable. During times of immense suffering and privation, he realised that the materialistic propaganda spouted out for long years is meaningless when facing such agony. Therefore, he approached the Orthodox Church to enlist its help in providing comfort and hope to a suffering and despairing population.

What does this lesson from history teach us?

The most significant meaning is that materialistic ideals are worthless when faced with the inevitable pain and misery that accompany each one of us at sometime or other during our lives. These can never give anyone that virtue without which life and all its trials become unbearable and meaningless: hope.

This is where the Christian ideal triumphs. It is important to emphasise that nowhere does Christ say that belief in Him will take away the mystery of suffering and pain. These, sadly, are the wages we have inherited from original sin, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us. However, belief in Him gives redemptive meaning to our suffering and helps us to keep moving forward serenely without the bitterness and cynicism of those who have rejected Christ in their life.