Very often nowadays people find themselves in difficult situations. We are unable to cope with the suffering, illness and death of people close to us. Then a painful question rises from our hearts: where have you been, Lord God? This question often reflects our sadness, lack of hope, meaning in life, and despair. Loss of hope and despair are, it seems, the main disease of the present day. Despair can lead to sin.

Catholic moral theology judges that when despair leads to the final rejection of all hope, including that given by God, and leads man to reject God, it is the opposite sin. In fact, faith in God brings relief, removes from a person the burden of pain, loneliness, deep despair and internal emptiness. Once I heard from one person who experienced a drama in a family: „Father, I would not do well without God”. This is the whole truth about us and the world. God is a response to human suffering and the temptation to despair. In his encyclical on hope, Benedict XVI wrote in the spirit of Saint Augustine: „To know God – the true God – means to receive hope (…) A world without God is a world without hope.” Saint John Chrysostom pointed out that despair causes misfortune.

Very often, as a result of despair, a person ceases to expect from God personal salvation, help to achieve it, or forgiveness of sins. Despair „is contrary to God’s goodness and justice – because God is faithful to his promises – and to his mercy” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2091). Prayer is very important in times of despair. It is a learning place for hope. „If no one listens to me anymore, God listens to me. If I cannot talk to anyone anymore, call anyone, I can always speak to God. If there is no one left to help me – where it is a need or expectation that exceed human possibilities of enduring hope – He can help me „(Benedict XVI).