April 22, 2023

Have you ever been in a fist fight? It’s a surreal experience that lays bare millions of years of evolution that we all carry around in our psyches and cells.  Indeed, beneath our easy-going personalities and the daily masks we wear is an insecure and fragile human person who is desperate to survive.  While we may feel guilty about trying to punch somebody’s lights out or ashamed of having someone knock us around in front of a crowd, at least a fight is honest.  Let’s therefore admit our dissatisfaction with the false sense of safety that a tax bracket or a zip code or a social status affords us. Let’s end the practice of redirecting these uncomfortable instincts toward some socially acceptable outlet like alcohol or pornography, and instead feel this deep primal identity within. Let’s look to Jesus whose willingness to recognize the tension within himself (Mt 10:34-35) allowed him to be reconciled with his own existence (Mt 26:39).  Let’s pray for hands that serve other people precisely through the clenched fists of our creatureliness. Ave Crux, Spes Unica.