Last week I attended vespers at church, after which was read a portion from the Book of Second Chronicles. This was followed by a homily by Rev. Patrick Henry Reardon in which he stated that even should a man be converted (like King Manasseh, in 33:10–13), this doesn’t meant that the evil they have done will not have its consequences in history.
Evil ripples out; sometimes it is checked in places, sometimes overcome by an act of grace, but not always. And Satan can also make use of good, sometimes, for evil purposes. In other words, we see a pretty mixed bag. Is the glass of the world half-full or half-empty with respect to good or evil?
Evil in our society, especially the sort that flows from the greed and lust and other vices of men, at times looks like Goliath menacing smaller and weaker folks. Christians know, of course, they have a Champion from the line of David, yet even with this knowledge, it seems at times that the world, at best, could go either way. I think of a movie like The Night of the Hunter, where the children barely escape, saved by a widow with a gun, but who suffer, nonetheless, the loss of both their father and their mother. (I highly recommend the movie.)
On a night in which the frights of evil are displayed, we also remember it is the eve of All Saints. At our parish, the kids are coming shortly to a party dressed as saints and biblical characters and heroes of the faith. The heroes and martyrs led no rose-petal lives, but faced dark powers intent on hunting them down, on distinguishing the light of faith. Their examples shine all the more brightly for having gone through such pain and darkness and having conquered. “For All the Saints” we say, “Alleluia!”
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