The Poorest of the Poor, by Anthony Esolen

By Anthony Esolen, Crisis Magazine, September 4, 2020

The Lord has commanded us to assist the poor. This is not an option. How shall we do it?

One of the paradoxical results of obsessive political agitation is that it makes political discussions almost impossible. Imagine someone on a sickbed, afflicted with a disease that makes the lightest touch upon the skin feel like a thorn or a lighted match. The patient cannot rest, yet movement brings no relief. The doctor prescribes a neural block if the pain is localized in a limb, or a general anodyne if not. Such is the state of the politically agitated. Slogans do the work of the anodyne when real thought is a terror. And the neural block? A general agreement that we will not talk about certain things at all.  …

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