The Global Pandemic: A Time to Search for Truth at the End of the Postmodern Era
Living in the 21st century in the time of a great plague seems either apocalyptic or something out of a science fiction novel. The truth of the matter is that humanity has endured epidemics for all of human history. Our current malady is neither mysterious or apocalyptic. It is the result of natural biological processes, specifically processes that occur when there is significant interspecies interaction in intimate spaces. The increased emergence of zoonotic disease: diseases passing from animals to humans are a result of incursion into jungles and rain forests as well as the hunting and eating of species not meant for human consumption. The latter example can be correlated directly with poverty. Mankind's complicity in the current crisis as well as other forms of human suffering, whether biologic, economic, or another type of injustice is rooted in the philosophical thought of the last two centuries.
As Pope Francis lamented during his recent homily before the Urbi et Orbi blessing, the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic is a result of us not listening to our "poor ailing planet." The Supreme Pontiff frequently admonishes those who ignore Catholic social teaching on the environment, unrestrained capitalism, socialism, and care of the poor. The voice of the Church is like one crying out in the wilderness, "make straight the path of the Lord." In order to understand how we got here and where we are going, we have to answer Pilate's question to Jesus: "What is truth?" Jn 18:38.
Man's quest for truth is as old as our species itself. Our first parents were so hungry for knowledge that they disobeyed the God of creation. The real sin of Adam wasn't in desiring truth; it was in failing to recognize that truth is only found in God. Thus, the first sin was man's folly that he could be like God. While this error has persisted throughout salvation history and may be recognized by Christians familiar with scripture, we remain blind to our own dead-end search for the truth or even our disbelief in universal truth itself.
The quest for truth took interesting turns during the modern and postmodern eras of the 19th and 20th centuries. The modernist idea that objective truth is begotten by science and reason gave way to the postmodern denial of absolute truth and the widespread heresy of relativism: the belief that reality is both personal and fluid. The popularity of relativism among those that identify as Christians, spiritualists, or merely kind people, is due to the belief that this philosophy is ardently humane. Objective moral truth, on the other hand, may be considered cruel because it carries with it the possibility of gravely wounding others. There is also the overly uncomfortable position that we may be indicted in accord with our own actions. The evil one tells us that God wants us to live our own truth so long as we don't hurt anyone else. It is of no matter that such relative truth is paradoxically a lie that threatens to mortally wound our own soul. Let me be clear that liberal and conservative, Christian and non-Christian, capitalist and socialist are all equally duped by the Father of Lies as he has a lust for all souls.
There is considerable debate as to whether the postmodern era is behind us and what philosophy will replace it. I believe that we are entering a new religious age, one that will usher in the final battle between good and evil. Mankind again will awaken to the soul's inherent desire to know objective truth, to know God. This awakening, however, will be a dangerous time. Many will seek God from within themselves. Man can now perform many sorts of miraculous deeds. We can bend gender at will, create and destroy life without fear or regret, wage war with the push of a button and without consideration of innocent lives, and much more. One has to look no further than his own living room to witness the absence of objective moral truth. Many Christians cannot even see when it is right before their eyes. Our children are unmoved at condom commercials and shows normalizing gender fluidity. News reports of war, poverty, and human suffering are no more real than the video games they play. Governments and people celebrating laws legalizing infanticide are passively dismissed with no emotional cry out. We have not only eaten of the forbidden tree, we ourselves now plant the tree.
You may be wondering what all of this has to do with a global pandemic and our planetary quarantine; the answer is everything. While God did not cause this plague, he did allow it to happen. He allows all of human suffering to happen, and He asks us to respond as Christians-with love and charity. As Christians, we know that the glorified Christ was only possible because of the suffering Christ. We are to pick up our cross daily and die to Christ so that we will be raised with Him. Through His grace and mercy, we are being given a chance to put our faith in Him. We are called to humble ourselves to His will. Take this time to read scripture, pray, and contemplate God's incarnate Word. This is an excellent time to discern God's will in our lives and in the world and to pray that we may humbly submit to it. This is the time to recognize that we are not God and that we are not even capable of our next breath without him. Will we be able to realize that the answer to Pilate's question was standing right before his eyes?
Scott Francis Davis, O.P.
Feast of St. Athanasius
