No? What’s the matter with you?

Emily Stimson writes at OSV of the latest faddishness given a platform by Oprah Winfrey:

According to Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa, who hosts EWTN Live and writes extensively on the New Age movement, The Secret, far from being some long-lost piece of ancient wisdom, is just the same old New Age nonsense dressed up for TV.

“It’s a standard New Age idea that all the world’s problems would go away if everyone would just be a little more positive,” said Father Pacwa. “This is an old scam. It’s like a nasty scene from ‘Poltergeist’: ‘They’re ba-ack.’”

The Secret, however, go further back than the New Age movement. In fact, said Father Pacwa, they go right back to Eden.

“What did the devil say to Eve? ‘Eat this, and you’ll become like gods.’ That’s what The Secret really promises,” he said.

The promise of The Secret does seem to echo the promise of the serpent. It promises that without help from man or God you can control your destiny. It assures you neither grace nor suffering are necessary. It makes you your own god, and leaves no room for a messiah who hung on a cross.

Of course, the cost of believing those promises is as high as ever, which is why the best way for Catholics to respond to The Secret is not to think “lovely, wonderful thoughts” about the phenomenon coming to a quick demise. Rather, Father Pacwa advised, Catholics need to help the culture rediscover their dependence on God’s grace and the redemptive power of suffering.

"Suffering isn’t easy, but it’s profound and powerful,” he said. “Our task is to help folks in the culture face their problems instead of looking for the easy way out. It doesn’t exist.”