A round trip

Imagine a young man from a Jewish family, a Maoist, a nihilist, who read the Bible only to ridicule it . For him, being a Christian seemed an absolute impossibility . Today, Fabrice Hadjadj is one of the most important Catholic thinkers, a philosopher, playwright, and father of ten . His conversion, which occurred at age 24 in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary, did not mean denying his past, but rather embracing it in a new light . As he himself confesses: “Before my conversion, being a Christian seemed impossible to me; afterward, it seems impossible not to be one . “

The miracle of the everyday and the wound as beauty

Hadjadj, director of the Incarnatus Est Institute  , advocates a spirituality of incarnation that shuns abstract spiritualism . For this thinker, the central mystery of faith unfolds in the everyday: in family life, in the noise of children, and in the acceptance of vulnerability .

One of the most provocative aspects of his thought is his vision of beauty and suffering . Analyzing why Christ rose with his wounds, Hadjadj argues that “the highest beauty is the beauty of charity .” In a world that seeks algorithms to avoid drama, he proposes the cross as the place where time and eternity meet, teaching us that perfect integrity is not the only path to beauty; sometimes, beauty resides precisely in the wound embraced out of love .

A commitment to the present

Far from retreating to an ivory tower, Hadjadj invites young people to seek the “seeds of Christ” even in pop culture and the most unexpected places . His pedagogical approach, which combines the study of the classics with carpentry and theater workshops, seeks to reclaim the importance of the body and matter . “Theater is a place for experiencing embodiment,” he explains, while insisting that true power lies not in crushing the other, but in the capacity to uplift and embrace them .

Ultimately, Hadjadj’s proposal is a call to hope: a reminder that, even in a world marked by nihilism, the simple act of living, working, and sharing bread remains a gift from God .

What did you think of this testimony about faith and reason? We invite you to reflect in the comments on how to find beauty amidst our own daily “wounds.”