Without question, these are the times that try the soul. Certainly each of us must deal with occasional traumas like illness, the loss of loved ones and financial reverses, but recently all of us have been bombarded by an onslaught of momentous circumstances. Consider the crises we’ve lived through in recent years: the shock and heartbreak of 9/11, the Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, Darfur, Katrina, terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the unending insanity of the Middle East, and the Great Recession of 2008.

The weight of any one of these situations might feel overwhelming; their cumulative effect could well be traumatic. […]