One of the words we often hear through the media, and which is slowly working its way into our ears and our hearts, is: threat. An interesting word. We hear it from military circles, when talk turns to national security and the strengthening of defence forces. In summer we hear about the threat of wildfires; we have heard about the threat of earthquakes. Many are under threat of losing their jobs, or already find themselves amid the threat of unemployment. We feel the threat of one small virus, which at one point brought half of humanity to a standstill and affected our lives… Many endure the threats of violence, injustice, loneliness …

Threat is unavoidable, but comfort is stronger. Good is always stronger than evil. Even though at first glance it may not seem so. Where do we find "comfort"?

More than ever it is clear to us that man lives under threat and cannot escape it. Something is always threatening us. Society, too, with all its institutions, struggles to protect us from threats of every kind — from the threat of poverty to the threat of the mosquitoes that plague us in these summer days. Human life is under threat. And that is a reality we are called to accept. There is no absolute security on this earth.

However, at the root of all these threats lies the threat above all threats, a kind of monster — invisible, yet present. Christianity is aware of these "ordinary" threats mentioned above, but prophetically points a finger at the threat of the seven deadly, or capital, sins, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls them. This threat is dangerous, all-pervasive, destructive and often unnoticed. It comes from within. From the heart. "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander." (cf. Mt 15:19) The source of this threat lies in the original sin of our first parents, and it is rooted in our wounded nature. It is spiritual in kind and it takes shape in some concrete behaviour that is contrary to the good, contrary to our nature, which was created for heavenly reality, for what is good, beautiful and true. This fundamental "threatening" monster, this beast, has seven heads: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth. Here they are, they are here. They are among us. They are within us. They destroy human relationships. They ruin young lives. They destroy marriages. They prevent us from being free to give ourselves to others. They cause division, violence, alienation, fear. They force us to think only of ourselves and our own small world.

St Thomas More in his book "A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation" gradually leads us from threat towards comfort: "Here I will say something I learned from St Bernard: whoever, in trouble, turns to earthly vanities and seeks help and comfort in them is like a man who, in danger of drowning, grabs at whatever comes to hand and holds on to it tightly, even if it is nothing more than an ordinary stick. This, of course, does not help him, for as he sinks he drags the stick down with him, and so both go under together." Threat drives us toward false "comforts", which are themselves hidden threats.

Is there a "cure" for these ills? Is it possible to escape the jaws of these threats? Which institution takes care to protect us from these threats? The good news is that there is another reality — and that is comfort! A wonderful word. When we are comforted, we find ourselves in a state of peace that we wish would never leave us. The chief source of comfort, and the "destroyer of threat", is the Holy Spirit. The Paraclete. The Comforter, in the original Greek the word also means Encourager. Strengthener. A kind of coach for the good.  And he too has his gifts, which destroy threats and produce virtues — deeply rooted good habits. The Holy Spirit gives seven gifts: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. There is the recipe against every threat. The wise man acts prudently, does not overdo anything, listens for God's counsel in prayer, possesses inner fortitude before the troubles and sufferings of life, possesses God's knowledge of heavenly things and understands why earthly threats occur. He is devout, that is, he lives in God's presence and possesses fear of the Lord,  and takes care not to lose the gift of God's love and all these fruits of comfort.

Thomas More, in his book, gives an imagined conversation between the uncle, Anthony, and his nephew, Vincent, in which the uncle counsels his nephew: "For your comfort is, and must be, God, and not I. He is a reliable comforter who (as he told his disciples) does not leave his servants as comfortless orphans, even when death had parted him from his disciples. Instead, as he had promised, he sent them the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and from him, and he further promised them that he would be with them until the end of the world. Therefore, if you remain part of his flock and believe his promise, how, I wonder, could you ever remain without comfort in whatever grievous trouble, when Christ and his Holy Spirit, and with them the Father, who is inseparable from them, are never, if you believe and trust in them wholly, further from you than a finger's breadth in space, or a minute in time.

Threat is unavoidable, but comfort is stronger. Good is always stronger than evil. Even though at first glance it may not seem so. Where do we find "comfort"? In the Church. In the Christian community. Does that sound too general? Let us try to be more concrete: in the family, the domestic Church. The perfect community of God. Mother, father, children. Comfort. It sounds "threat-proof". Comforting. A comforted heart is a healed heart. From it flow forgiveness, communion, self-giving. A new heart is saved. The Christian community, with Christ at its centre, and the family as its heart, hold threat at bay. They comfort society, and each one of us. "When the cares of my heart are many, thy consolations cheer my soul." (Ps 94:19)