Din of Evil, Triumph of Good

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Two discouraging words when it comes to the spread of evil and godlessness are “majority” and “power.” “Satan is having a field day,” some say, and it is true. We decipher the cunning hidden agendas of individuals and organizations with massive amounts of money and key positions of cultural and political leadership aimed at removing God and His principles from every aspect of culture and society. They deceive others, and in some cases themselves as well, into thinking that the agenda is about justice and personal freedom. But in reality, they push continuously toward totalitarian government supplanting Divine Providence, and political alignment with a certain overreaching social agenda supplanting personal morality and charity.

But today’s readings betray an even deeper force at work that we can decipher. If indeed the noisy powers of the day, in every age, repeat over and over the first sin of supplanting God with man, something else is going on. Something else which, while quiet, carries the impetus of a volcanic surge.

That “something else” is the tireless and unstoppable impetus of God’s mercy. Here, words like “minority” and “weakness” become wondrous and beautiful, as God moves through the populous, drawing real people close to Him, purifying them, and leading them back to Him. He is quiet and understated, but His mercy is gloriously stubborn as it searches every human heart for a crack or crevice of openness through which He inserts the challenge to follow Him.

“I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.” “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

If we consider history in this light, it belongs to the saints–both those recognized, and those anonymous. Even the stage of evil upon which they act out their lives is set for their sake, as a contrast against which their virtue and beauty shines, and a challenger through which their greatness is strengthened and increased.

We must work tirelessly for the triumph of good in the world, including in the public sphere; but our hope should not lie in a flashy, short-term victory. Rather, we must hope in the hidden but glorious action of God in hearts that we will never see, who may never be interviewed on TV or participate in a poll. Just as He acts in our hearts, not through external pressure, but through the breeze of His Holy Spirit.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Talk to Our Lord about the prevalence of evil in the world. Does it disturb Him? Does it worry Him? Does He have it all in hand, or is He expecting us to “save Him” from it? On the other hand, if He has it in hand, How would He like us to help along the triumph of good in the world? What are His expectations for us and from us in an often frighteningly chaotic world?

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