How is it that our generation will be worthy of Moshiach?  How are we any greater than past generations?

Some people have a question:  How can one understand the fact that precisely the present, orphaned generation should be found worthy of witnessing the Redemption?  This question provides its own answer.  Only from ultimate concealment can one arrive at ultimate revelation.  Light, for example, is at its most resplendent when it shines forth from dim obscurity.  In the same way, it is the initial distance from the light of G-dliness that empowers teshuvah to transform darkness into light - since, for the penitent, "his sins become like virtues." Our generation's very distance from G-dliness inspires in us the sublime, inner power of the soul.  (The righteous individual, by contrast, repels evil, rather than transforming it into good.)

Furthermore, goodness and holiness are eternal.  Hence, when a Jew fulfills a mitzvah, "in the upper spheres this union [between the soul and G-d] is eternal."

Evil, by contrast, has no true existence; it is no more than a concealment of the Divine light.  Hence, when the blemish of the sin is cleansed, such as when the person repents, the evil ceases to exist.

Since good is eternal, all the accumulated good of all the past generations still exists.  This is why now, specifically, we will soon be privileged to witness the coming of Moshiach, even though superficial appearances might indicate that "the generation is unworthy."

(From Exile to Redemption, pp. 126-27.  Tanya, ch. 37, ibid ch. 2.  Sicha of Sukkot 5749.  Likutei sichos vol. V, p. 34)