Why Angry People Can’t Hear You

Anger is a common emotion that many people experience regularly. If you have ever tried to have a reasoned conversation with someone angry, then you already know that anger makes it very difficult for someone to use reason and logic, and to think clearly about the situation. Anger influences our perceptions, beliefs, ideas, reasoning, and ultimately our choices. That is why it is pointless to try to reason with someone full of anger or rage. The angrier someone becomes, the more cognitive impairment they suffer from. As Jennifer Lerner and Katherine Shonk write for the Harvard Business Review,

“Angry people tend to rely on cognitive shortcuts—easy rules of thumb—rather than on more systematic reasoning. They’re also quick to blame individuals, rather than aspects of a situation, for problems.”

The book of Proverbs, named from the Hebrew word masal, which means a provocative saying, a popular saying, or a maxim that arrests the listener’s attention, is the oldest collection of inspired texts in the corpus of Wisdom literature. Chapter 29, verse 11 says,

“Fools give vent to all their anger; but the wise, biding their time, control it.”

Today, this ancient wisdom is supported by a wealth of psychological studies. Research has shown that when someone or something they care about is offended or injured, anger provides a sense of certainty or confidence about the angering event and what caused it (Litvak et al., 2010). Additionally, anger leads to the belief that rather than the situation itself or the person themself, another person was responsible for the event (Lazarus, 1991).

Research has also found that people are selective about the content they are apt to take in and that it often matches the emotional state they are in (Potegal, 2010). Therefore, angry people are most likely to seek content that reinforces their anger rather than challenges it. This is why when someone is angry, they are unable to process information that is incongruent with their belief. They become trapped in a vicious circle, limited to consuming or only deeming reliable information that confirms their anger.

Many people hold onto anger as a way to protect themselves from being hurt. Anger leaves them continually on guard and unable to trust in a meaningful way. Unresolved anger can turn into moral indignation. No longer is a person merely upset; they now believe they have the moral high ground, and their anger is justified. Those who oppose the angry person’s perception are, in their mind, morally less than. The angry person can not understand any other perspective.

Chronic anger can be seen in angry comments on social media; statements of opinion are often expressions of rage rather than rational arguments. Such anger impairs the capacity to be civil, open, understanding, or compassionate. It blurs our vision of the possibilities of looking for and noticing the positive in others and ourselves–even when we have disagreements. It also leads to binary thinking. A situation or a person cannot be seen in context and charity. They become black-and-white, good or bad. Individuals, however, are seldom all good or all bad. The chronically angry person forces them to be one or the other.

Chronic anger is often the underlying cause of hatred of others who may be different from ourselves or hold different perspectives. The chronically angry person believes (often unconsciously) that they cannot be entirely happy because of the presence or mere existence of the person they hate. Letting go of their anger is difficult because it forces them to confront the unpleasant need to examine their own lives and to enter the dark, hidden places of their psyche.

The renowned Swiss psychologist Carl Jung called this place the “shadow self,” the place where the unowned side of your personality lives. Your shadow self is the part of you that stays unknown, unexamined, and out of the light of your conscious awareness. It is the part that is denied or suppressed because it makes you uncomfortable or afraid. Whatever doesn’t fit the image of your ideal self becomes your shadow.

If you want to discover your shadow, pay attention to the judgments you make about others. Simply observing something is not a projection, but judging it is. If you observe someone being mean to someone else, but you don’t react emotionally, it’s an observation. If you get upset and think, What a disgusting person! Then you are probably projecting.

What you judge in others can be a reflection of qualities that you possess, but deny, within yourself. If you are constantly judging others, then it is likely that your own shadow is quietly screaming at you. The people we claim to hate are often the people who arouse our shadow. As Ham (2018) discusses, “The Bible assumes that humans can become “blind” in a figurative sense (Exodus 23:8, Matthew 15:14, Matthew 23:16-17, John 9:39, 1 John 2:11), which involves individuals not being able to see their own lives clearly due to the effects of the fall of humankind in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3).”

Many Christians have a cursory hermeneutic of Matthew 7:3-5.

3 “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? 5 You hypocrite,* remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye”

The simple interpretation is an admonishment not to judge others. Like the rest of the Bible, the message is multi-layered and has depth beyond the obvious. Of course, it is not a prohibition against recognizing the faults of others, which would be hardly compatible with Mt 7:5, 6, but against passing judgment in a spirit of arrogance, forgetful of one’s own faults. The hypocrite: the designation previously given to the scribes and Pharisees is here given to the Christian disciple who is concerned with the faults of another and ignores his own more serious offenses. It is also a warning that we cannot see others’ sins clearly because we are full of sin ourselves; from the Jungian perspective, we have a shadow.

From a societal perspective, anger and its ensuing hatred can take hold of a nation over a sustained period, shaping an individual’s choices and perceptions. This phenomenon, coupled with the advent of social media, which allows us to demonize distant groups that are far off and less likely to be interested in resolving issues, is increasing people’s anger and enabling them to remain in a consistent state of bitterness and hatred. Without real-life in-person interactions, anger is much harder to resolve.

Forgiveness is an antidote to hate and to moving on with wisdom.

I saw a meme on Facebook recently that said, “The number of minds changed from a Facebook post is Zero.” There is, in fact, much wisdom to learn from that statement. Social media is a place where people go to confirm what they already believe and vent their frustrations. It is not a place that those who want to learn about a subject go to for knowledge.

When encountering angry people, it’s best to keep in mind that there’s likely something more profound than the issue at hand that’s causing the anger. It is difficult enough to parse out the root of such anger in in-person interactions, let alone in the distant, binary “like & dislike” world of social media. Rather than engaging in arguments, it is more effective to share credible stories, research, and other sources that might help change someone’s mind. When engaged in a social media dialog, people are often too angry to listen. Perhaps, when they have calmed down, they can reflect on a counterperspective at their leisure and take the time necessary to digest the information.

There is little doubt that technology has had a positive overall impact on humans. Emerging clinical evidence suggests, however, that technology like social media can be addictive. Although the harmful effects of social media addiction are less devastating than those from drug or alcohol addiction, they can nevertheless have adverse effects on work, school, social functioning, and overall well-being. He et al. (2017) studied brain structural alterations associated with social media addiction. The study found that people with high social media networking addiction scores have a pruned amygdala, which is presumably involved in generating strong impulsive behaviors. The amygdala is part of the brain associated with memory, decision-making, and emotional responses, including fear, anxiety, and aggression.

We need to regain the biblical idea of Sunday as a day of giving thanks, rest, and spending time with family and friends. It would also be a great idea to give your brain a rest from social media. Engage in real-life get-togethers —A day a week will do your brain good. Finally, and perhaps most important, is learning to be patient.

“The patient are better than warriors, and those who rule their temper, better than the conqueror of a city”

— Proverbs 16:32

References
Ham, C. (2018). Overcoming Self-Deception:Integrating Christian Theology with Jungian Psychoanalysis. Journal of Psychology and Christianity
Vol. 37, No.2, 137-152
He, Q. et al. (2017). Brain anatomy alterations associated with Social Networking Site (SNS) addiction. Sci. Rep. 7, 45064; DOI: 10.1038/srep45064.
Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press
Litvak, P, M.,  et al. (2010), International Handbook of Anger, DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-89676-2_17

Why This Archbishop Wrote A Letter To President Trump

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò wrote a letter to President Trump urging him to continue fighting the eternal struggle between people of the light and those of darkness. We believe President Trump understands the reality of this eternal struggle and explains Why he held the Bible up at St. Johns Church

Mr. President,

In recent months we have been witnessing the formation of two opposing sides that I would call Biblical: the children of light and the children of darkness. The children of light constitute the most conspicuous part of humanity, while the children of darkness represent an absolute minority. And yet the former are the object of a sort of discrimination which places them in a situation of moral inferiority with respect to their adversaries, who often hold strategic positions in government, in politics, in the economy and in the media. In an apparently inexplicable way, the good are held hostage by the wicked and by those who help them either out of self-interest or fearfulness.

These two sides, which have a Biblical nature, follow the clear separation between the offspring of the Woman and the offspring of the Serpent. On the one hand, there are those who, although they have a thousand defects and weaknesses, are motivated by the desire to do good, be honest, raise a family, engage in work, give prosperity to their homeland, help the needy, and, in obedience to the Law of God, to merit the Kingdom of Heaven. On the other hand, there are those who serve themselves, who do not hold any moral principles, who want to demolish the family and the nation, exploit workers to make themselves unduly wealthy, foment internal divisions and wars, and accumulate power and money: for them the fallacious illusion of temporal well-being will one day – if they do not repent – yield to the terrible fate that awaits them, far from God, in eternal damnation.

In society, Mr. President, these two opposing realities co-exist as eternal enemies, just as God and Satan are eternal enemies. And it appears that the children of darkness – whom we may easily identify with the deep state which you wisely oppose and which is fiercely waging war against you in these days – have decided to show their cards, so to speak, by now revealing their plans. They seem to be so certain of already having everything under control that they have laid aside that circumspection that until now had at least partially concealed their true intentions. The investigations already underway will reveal the true responsibility of those who managed the Covid emergency not only in the area of health care but also in politics, the economy, and the media. We will probably find that in this colossal operation of social engineering there are people who have decided the fate of humanity, arrogating to themselves the right to act against the will of citizens and their representatives in the governments of nations

We will also discover that the riots in these days were provoked by those who, seeing that the virus is inevitably fading and that the social alarm of the pandemic is waning, necessarily have had to provoke civil disturbances, because they would be followed by repression which, although legitimate, could be condemned as unjustified aggression against the population. The same thing is also happening in Europe, in perfect synchrony. It is quite clear that the use of street protests is instrumental to the purposes of those who would like to see someone elected in the upcoming presidential elections who embodies the goals of the deep state and who expresses those goals faithfully and with conviction. It will not be surprising if, in a few months, we learn once again that hidden behind these acts of vandalism and violence there are those who hope to profit from the dissolution of the social order so as to build a world without freedom: Solve et Coagula, as the Masonic adage teaches.

Although it may seem disconcerting, the opposing alignments I have described are also found in religious circles. There are faithful Shepherds who care for the flock of Christ, but there are also mercenary infidels who seek to scatter the flock and hand the sheep over to be devoured by ravenous wolves. It is not surprising that these mercenaries are allies of the children of darkness and hate the children of light: just as there is a deep state, there is also a deep church that betrays its duties and forswears its proper commitments before God. Thus the Invisible Enemy, whom good rulers fight against in public affairs, is also fought against by good shepherds in the ecclesiastical sphere. It is a spiritual battle, which I spoke about in my recent Appeal which was published on May 8.

For the first time, the United States has in you a President who courageously defends the right to life, who is not ashamed to denounce the persecution of Christians throughout the world, who speaks of Jesus Christ and the right of citizens to freedom of worship. Your participation in March for Life, and more recently your proclamation of the month of April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, are actions that confirm which side you wish to fight on. And I dare to believe that both of us are on the same side in this battle, albeit with different weapons.

For this reason, I believe that the attack to which you were subjected after your visit to the National Shrine of Saint John Paul II is part of the orchestrated media narrative which seeks not to fight racism and bring social order, but to aggravate dispositions; not to bring justice, but to legitimize violence and crime; not to serve the truth, but to favor one political faction. And it is disconcerting that there are Bishops – such as those whom I recently denounced – who, by their words, prove that they are aligned on the opposing side. They are subservient to the deep state, to globalism, to aligned thought, to the New World Order which they invoke ever more frequently in the name of a universal brotherhood that has nothing Christian about it, but which evokes the Masonic ideals of those who want to dominate the world by driving God out of the courts, out of schools, out of families, and perhaps even out of churches.

The American people are mature and have now understood how much the mainstream media does not want to spread the truth but seeks to silence and distort it, spreading the lie that is useful for the purposes of their masters. However, it is important that the good – who are the majority – wake up from their sluggishness and do not accept being deceived by a minority of dishonest people with unavowable purposes. It is necessary that the good, the children of light, come together and make their voices heard. What more effective way is there to do this, Mr. President, than by prayer, asking the Lord to protect you, the United States, and all of humanity from this enormous attack of the Enemy? Before the power of prayer, the deceptions of the children of darkness will collapse, their plots will be revealed, their betrayal will be shown, their frightening power will end in nothing, brought to light and exposed for what it is: an infernal deception.

Mr. President, my prayer is constantly turned to the beloved American nation, where I had the privilege and honor of being sent by Pope Benedict XVI as Apostolic Nuncio. In this dramatic and decisive hour for all of humanity, I am praying for you and also for all those who are at your side in the government of the United States. I trust that the American people are united with me and you in prayer to Almighty God. United against the Invisible Enemy of all humanity, I bless you and the First Lady, the beloved American nation, and all men and women of goodwill.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò
Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana
Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America

Why Trump Held Up The Bible

On June 1st after addressing the nation concerning the ongoing rioting and looting that was happening across America, the Main Stream Media had a hissy fit over President Trump walking over to Saint John’s Church and holding up a Bible. Many Christians missed the significance of exactly what Trump did. Why? Because Satan’s greatest work is in convincing us he doesn’t exist. Satan is the father of lies” (John 8:44). He lies using deception rather than bold-face falsehoods. Those would be too obvious. He “is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). Therefore, he hates “the Spirit of truth,” and he hates God the Father from whom the Spirit proceeds (John 15:26). He hates the Son of God, who is truth (John 14:6). And he hates the word of God because God’s “word is truth” (John 17:17).

It is worth reminding ourselves that the specific focus of Satan’s blinding work is the Gospel. That is, his focus is on our reading—or hearing—the heart of the message of the Christian Scriptures. Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers, and many believers alike, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.

Satan is more than happy for people to believe a thousand facts, or go to church every Sunday as long as they are blind to “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

Jesus (Matt. 13:19), Paul (2 Cor. 4:3–4), and John (1 John 5:19) warn us that Satan is a great enemy of Bible reading that sees what is really there. In other words, read and memorize your Bible just do not internalize its message.

Ironically, many Christians the world over are consumed with reminding us of Trump’s transgressions. It is almost as if they are blinded and do not understand that the entire message of the Bible is one of conversion. Conversion is available for everyone who wants it. It makes you wonder if they have ever read the Bible especially the Gospel of Matthew;

Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite,* remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye. Matthew Chapter 7: 1-5

In the centuries-old Christian rite of exorcism, both the Cross and the Bible are used to drive out demons. As radio commentator Rush Limbaugh astutely noted, when Trump “held up the Bible, it’s like showing Dracula the cross.” Satan hates the Bible.

President Trump might be one of the only people to understand the evil we are facing fully. While many other supposed experts are pontificating on what new laws need to be passed as if a government will change the heart of people, Trump, whether you like him or not, is trying to root out the evil that has engulfed much of our nation.

It has become clear that most of the so-called “protests” that quickly turn into rioting and looting are well orchestrated and are being funded by far-left anti-American radical groups. Almost on queue from Satan himself, the MSM continues to act as if these are organic uprisings and mostly peaceful. They are not. Protestors do not pull people from their vehicles and beat them to a pulp. Protestors do not burn down buildings. Protestors do not burn down Churches. Satan does, and he convinces you that it is just. Politicians and media reporters that try to justify this form of evil are themselves evil.

For the last five-plus decades, we have been pandered to by well-spoken politicians, who blow smoke campaign time, and nothing changes. Each passing year they do nothing but divide us further by pitting the rich against the poor, male against female, and one color against another color. I am sure many might be well-intentioned, but as my mother used to say, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

To be clear, Trump is a flawed man, just as I am, just as you are, and just as many of the men depicted in the Bible were. Here again, politicians and the media, like Satan, try to divide us. Telling us that even though Trump has kept many of his promises, appointing conservative Supreme Court justices, fighting for religious liberty, and adopting pro-life policies, Christians can not support him because of his past and continuing transgressions. Ironically many Christians go as far as saying,

I hate Trump, he is not a real Christian.

I do not know of any President who was beyond reproach, nor do I expect ever to have one. What we should all hope for is a President that restores us our God-given liberties and religious freedom that this country was founded on. I will remind the Christian and others who seem insistent on pointing out Trump’s character flaws, that even St. Paul prayed, “why do I do the things I know I shouldn’t and not the things I should” and that St. Augustine was a serial womanizer for years.

Holding up the Bible in front of the Church that Satan tried to burn down was a message to Satan. Christians should recognize that instead of judging the person who did it.

When will we listen? The real problem plaguing America is the family.

Why Kevin James Is Still Funny

Kevin James openly discusses his Catholic faith and is known for charitable giving. You can check out Kevin’s testimony on his faith in Catholic Celebrities. In King of Queens, Kevin played the role of a typical blue-collar worker who drove a delivery truck. Along with Leah Remini who played his wife Carrie, and Jerry Stiller who played Kevin’s father-in-law, they all made viewers laugh at the simple real-world storylines.

Kevin is still keeping people laughing with his Youtube channel that has short—mostly comical videos, such as Kevin posing as the “sound guy” in movie hits like “Joker” and “Braveheart.” Others like “out of Touch” deal with the real-life issues from COVID 19. Watch until the end.

Why You Must Have A Purpose To Be Happy

What is one of the primary differences between someone who is well-adjusted, and someone who is not?

The well-adjusted have a goal or a purpose. Those who are not well-adjusted have no goal or purpose. They are losing peace of soul.

You would not have a gadget in your house for ten minutes without asking, “What is this for?” And so it is with life. Man must have a purpose. Typically, people decide this before they decide anything else.

The ultimate well ordered purpose of man is to be happy.

What man wants as his final goal is LIFE; not a life for just five more minutes, but enduring life. He wants TRUTH; not the truth of geography to the exclusion of science, but ALL truth. He wants LOVE; not a mere fleeting emotion, but an enduring ecstatic love.

This is the normal goal of human beings.

Perfect LIFE, perfect TRUTH, and prefect LOVE is the definition of what we call GOD. In other words in seeking happiness, man is really seeking God.

There is a philosophical principle that the first in intention is the last in execution. Suppose you intend to drive to Los Angeles from Las Vegas. That’s first in your intent, but its the last place you get. You have to go through Primm, Baker, and Barstow before you get to LA.

So too a happy person decides first what is their ULTIMATE goal in life.

Meditation:

Do I recognize that God is my ultimate goal and purpose? Is my journey moving me closer or further away from this end?

“Because you have made us for Yourself, our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.“

Saint Augustine

Why You Should Not Take God’s Mercy For Granted

God’s mercy has no limits, but we must take it seriously. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Minor or venial sins can be confessed directly to God. Still, for grave or mortal sins, which crush the spiritual life out of the soul, God has instituted a different means for obtaining forgiveness—the sacrament known popularly as confession, penance, or reconciliation.

As soon as Jesus rose from the dead and earned salvation for us, he brought his apostles a new gift. After speaking peace to them, he said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21). Just as Jesus was sent by the Father to reconcile the world to God, Jesus sent the apostles to continue his mission.

Jesus then breathed on the apostles. This verse is often passed over, but it has extraordinary significance because it is the only time in all of Scripture that God breathes on anyone. The other instance was at the moment of creation when God breathed his own life into the nostrils of Adam. This should tell us that something of great importance is taking place. Upon doing this, Jesus said,

“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22–23).

But we must be careful not to take God’s mercy for granted. Confession needs to include sincere repentance and a change in the course of our lives. Msgr. Jim Lisante, Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Massapequa Park, NY. Explains this often missed component

If you can donate to support Msgr. Jim and his parish, please click this link:

Why Same-Sex Marriage Was All A Lie

It is just two people who love each other

Just when you thought it could not get any worse. The New York Post is reporting that an anonymous parent has now filed an anti-discrimination lawsuit to allow them to marry their biological adult child. It is just two consenting adults.

What are you worried about? Why do you care what two people who love each other do? We were told it would have no bearing on us. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, a Catholic, said:

We are not taking anyone’s liberty away

Watch this video

Why are we talking about the curriculum in the school

Today’s Marxists seeking to transform society have focused not only on economic policies but on systematically breaking down the family unit. If the family unit and sexual morals were eroded, society could be broken down. This form of “cultural terrorism” wants to target children’s minds through lectures that encouraged them to deride and reject Christian ethics. This is why children are increasingly being presented with graphic sexual matter and are encouraged to engage in loose sexual conduct.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Rebecca Friedrichs, the founder of For Kids & Country, said; when describing the condom relay races 10- and 11-year-old girls have been participating in at schools where, in front of boys, they’re taught how to put a condom on a model of an erect adult male penis. Students as young as 11, she warned, are also being taught to engage in risky sexual acts, such as experimenting with oral and anal sex with their “partner.” In states like California, parents can not opt their children out of this graphic sex education curriculum. So much for not trying to take anyone’s liberty’s away.

Trying to take away liberty.

Many people bought into that lie and believed that gay marriage would have no impact on their personal lives. Opponents, however, understood all along that the normalization of gay marriage would lead to a breakdown in society and that their rights would be trampled on. Jack Phillips has been sued numerous times by gay activists for refusing to make a cake for same-sex marriage. The Colorado baker was recently sued yet again. This time for refusing to make a cake for a transgender celebration. So much for not trying to take anyone’s liberty’s away.

Colorado baker Jack Phillips, state end legal fight over transgender woman’s cake

DENVER – A Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple on religious grounds – a stance partially upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court – and state officials said Tuesday that they would end a separate legal fight over his refusal to bake a cake celebrating a gender transition.

Were we lied to? Comment below and tell us what you think.

Why Comedians Do Not Make Jokes About Other Religions

Comedian Conan O’Brien tweeted on Easter Sunday,

“Trump says Jesus could have avoided crucifixion by taking hydroxychloroquine.”

I wonder why people like O’Brien never bother to make jokes about other religions besides Christianity? Actor James Woods, a Catholic, had a brilliant response to the comedian’s lame joke that probably explains why.

In case you forgot, terrorists stormed the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French magazine famous for making fun of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad and Islamic leaders. Woods has a good point, Christians are an easy target for O’Brien and other cowards.

James Woods and Conservatives Call Conan O’Brien a Coward for Mocking Jesus on Easter

Looks like TBS late night talk show host Conan O’Brien is fitting mockery of Jesus Christ and President Trump into the same joke and not everyone thinks it’s hilarious. O’Brien, the decorated comedian and former Tonight Show host, decided a snarky tweet about the crucifixion and pandemic-fighting drugs praised by Trump officials was the best way to ring in the Easter holiday.

Catholic Priest Shocks Josh Groban

Josh Groban Calls on Catholic Priest

Fr. Patrick Setto from Mother of God Chaldean Catholic Church in Southfield, Michigan, gets called up to sing by Josh Groban. You can listen to some of Fr. Setto’s homilies hear he is pretty good.

Josh Groban is so generous and unselfish and Father Setto nails singing the song, “To Where You Are.”

Why COVID-19 Is A Parable That Exposes An Illusion

Cardinal Robert Sarah has given a lengthy interview on the coronavirus pandemic with Charlotte d’Ornella of the French journal Valeurs. The translation is provided by Edward Pentin as reported in the National Catholic Register

“D’ORNELLA: How do you feel about the coronavirus crisis?

CARDINAL SARAH: This virus acted as a warning. In a matter of weeks, the great illusion of a material world that thought itself all-powerful seems to have collapsed. A few days ago, politicians were talking about growth, pensions, reducing unemployment. They were sure of themselves. And now a virus, a microscopic virus, has brought this world to its knees, a world that looks at itself, that pleases itself, drunk with self-satisfaction because it thought it was invulnerable. The current crisis is a parable. It has revealed how all we do and are invited to believe was inconsistent, fragile and empty. We were told: you can consume without limits! But the economy has collapsed and the stock markets are crashing. Bankruptcies are everywhere.

We were promised to push the limits of human nature ever further by a triumphant science. We were told about artificial procreation, surrogate motherhood, transhumanism, enhanced humanity. We boasted of being a man of synthesis and a humanity that biotechnologies would make invincible and immortal. But here we are in a panic, confined by a virus about which we know almost nothing. Epidemic was an outdated, medieval word. It suddenly became our everyday life. I believe this epidemic has dispelled the smoke of illusion. The so-called all-powerful man appears in his raw reality. There he is naked. His weakness and vulnerability are glaring.

Being confined to our homes will hopefully allow us to turn our attention back to the essentials, to rediscover the importance of our relationship with God, and thus the centrality of prayer in human existence. And, in the awareness of our fragility, to entrust ourselves to God and to his paternal mercy.