The other day I checked my high school yearbook to see what might keep me from confirmation to the Supreme Court. In it, there is a quote from former education secretary William J. Bennett: “Saints are not born through other people’s sins.” That quote seems relevant in so many ways right now. By the time you read this column, we may be closer to finding out how the Brett Kavanaugh nomination vote goes. But the story won’t end there, regardless of the outcome. There’s clearly too much underlying this all.

In his new book The Storm-Tossed Family, Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, writes: “My drive to succeed is really not ambition but a drive to belong … Behind virtually everything I do, from teaching my children dinner-table manners to writing this book, there’s a little boy looking behind him for his parents, to see if they’re looking, to see if they’re proud of him.”

What if we all measured our success not by worldly wealth or fame, but in the eyes of our loved ones, and in the gaze of our ultimate creator, God?

Aim for Freedom

Many have told me they’ve cried over politics and other news lately, the Kavanaugh ordeal coming up quite often. I know I’ve cried for Kavanaugh and his family, for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused him of assault during their high-school years, and I cry for our nation, too.

Whatever the truth is, the fact of the matter is that the Ford story is believable because we all know what she describes is something that happens and has happened to countless women. We know from our own experiences and the widespread resonance of #MeToo that sexual assault, harassment and inappropriate words and actions happen much more frequently than we care to admit.

Mother Teresa talked about how we are not called to be successful but faithful. But faithful to what, exactly? To the truth. But if we don’t actually see and believe that we are created by a loving God with a purpose, it’s going to be hard to break out of our lust to succeed in the eyes of the world, to put on a show that suggests we are nearly superhuman and can handle things quite well ourselves, thank you very much.

The Bible tells us otherwise. Whatever it is we are holding on to that hurts us and causes us harm in our relationships with others, we can call it by its name and give it to God for healing. That may very well require talking to others about it, too. What we should aim for is freedom. And there is freedom in the welcome that God offers us.

Beings in Need of One Another

“The Devil was not just trying to tempt Jesus; he was trying to adopt him.” That’s the sentence that most jumps off the page of Moore’s book. He’s talking about when the Devil approached Jesus. He explains: “Family is meant to teach us, among other things, that we are creatures, that we cannot, ultimately, provide for and protect ourselves. We are dependent in our infancy, and dependent again in our old age. That sense of need is the first step to overcoming, in a war-torn universe in which the family is often ground zero.”

If we learn anything from this ordeal, may it be: There’s a lot of pain out there; let’s not exacerbate it, but seek to heal it.

Our lives and the life of our nation involve spiritual battles — it’s why “thoughts and prayers” can never be mere sentiments but a real pleading with God that we may truly know Him and His mercy. In all the confusion of our times, when we don’t recognize the gratitude we should feel as created people for whom everything is a gift, everything is poisoned. We see this so clearly, don’t we, in our politics today? And so, the collective confusions between men and women and the escapes and excesses we seek in our misguided ways become Supreme Court nomination fodder. And our polarization makes it all the worse.

We need to take a few steps back and acknowledge our common reality as created beings in need of one another. We need to honor the family, honor innocence and help people see what good they can do and what magnificent power lies in their hearts. If we learn anything from this ordeal, may it be: There’s a lot of pain out there; let’s not exacerbate it, but seek to heal it. Let’s not let the Devil adopt us.

Saints can be born in daily life and even in politics. But we won’t find salvation in destroying other people — for sins that may or may not be theirs, but are certainly the plague of the times.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online and founding director of Catholic Voices USA. She can be contacted at [email protected].

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