It is impossible to turn a blind eye to the growing crisis besieging the world. Wherever we look we are faced with financial, social, political and military crises… However, as Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira shows in his book Revolution and Counter-Revolution, the chief of all contemporary crises is that of man himself.
Contrary to appearances, the problem is not a recent one. Rather, it has existed since the first transgression of Adam and Eve. Driven by the ambition to be “like God” (Gn 3:5), they turned away from their Creator, giving ear to the Serpent and eating the forbidden fruit, the root of original sin and, consequently, of all sins.
From then on, humanity has undergone a series of crises, as narrated in the Scriptures. One of these was the failure of the Tower of Babel, which scattered its inhabitants and confused human language. This construction symbolized human pride, climbing to the heavens without divine help.
The advent of the Messiah was to be the solution to all crises. The Redeemer would not come, however, to fulfil the nationalistic aspirations of the Pharisees – in other words, to make “gods” of themselves and raise them up as a “tower” over the Gentiles.
On the contrary, the Anointed One would become incarnate above all in order to rescue humanity from that original abyss. In fact, He would empty Himself in order to be “wounded for our transgressions” (Is 53:5) and thus heal our infirmities.
His most Precious Blood would have been enough for the Redemption, but the Saviour wanted human collaboration, as St. Paul announced: “In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His Body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24). This “completion” takes place above all through the acts of the interior life: expiation, meditation and, in particular, prayer, that is, the elevation of the soul to God.
In this sense, if Adam and Eve had turned to God during their temptation, they would not have sinned. The same could be said of the builders of the ungodly Babel, of the Pharisees and even of Judas himself, who was called to be one of the pillars of the early Church.
Over the course of the centuries, the various revolutions have aggravated that original catastrophe by progressively moving further away from the Creator. Movements of mounting secularism, laicism, anti-clericalism and atheism unfolded, pursuing the solution to every crisis in man himself or in merely earthly activities.
As the examples of the past teach us, the solution to today’s crisis does not lie in seeking “fruit” in pleasures, as the hedonists advocate. Nor does it lie in changing one’s language in a Babel-like manner in an attempt to please everyone and thus achieve an apparent peace. Much less is it in placing our trust in a “stock exchange”, as did Judas when he betrayed the Saviour – and his own vocation – for thirty coins.
The devil continues to reinvent himself today, promising false solutions or easy methods of overcoming humanity’s crisis – such as through so-called “self-help”. In reality, mortals need the help that comes from Above, from the Most High. Only then will they be able to overcome the crisis in this image of God that is man. In short, there will only be a solution when we raise our prayers to the Lord and He bows down His “heavens” and descends to us (cf. Ps 144:5). ◊
