Hey, I just found the notes I had taken during Father's homily last Sunday! I'm really happy since there were some good things in the notes which I had forgotten. And I don't want to "put words in his mouth" as my dad used to say.
Father did say last Sunday that evil is the absence of good-NOT ANYTHING CREATED-and compared it to darkness being the absence of light.
Father talked about the problem that agnostics and atheists have in believing in God. They have a difficult time in understanding how all this evil is going on in the world if we have such a good God. I used to have difficulty understanding too-even if I did believe in God at the time.
These nonbelievers told me the same thing and at first I didn't know what to say. But Father did an excellent job of outlining the reasons evil exists.
God doesn't create evil; but He allows it for several reasons:
1) Moral evil is allowed so we can have free will; free will leads to true love of the Lord.
2) Physical evil can be an illness or disability-such as the absence of hearing-which can lead to God's greater good. For example God could either take someone who is deaf and give him the ability to hear-or maybe He may use the lack of hearing in some other way. (Reminds me of Jesus healing the man who was born blind, but the absence of sight or hearing could be a person's "cross" for them to bear.)
3) Evil can be a punishment for sin-such as the plagues the Egyptians were subjected to when Pharaoh hardened his heart against the Jews and used them as slaves.
4) Evil can be used to sanctify the good. Father gave the book of Job as an example of this. Job was a virtuous man whom God allowed Satan to tempt. God told Satan he could do whatever he wanted to do with Job-"except you cannot kill him." He lost his health, his wife and 10 children, his livestock, and everything else. But he was given twice as many animals and 10 more children.
Showing posts with label evil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evil. Show all posts
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Evil=The Absence of Good
Last Sunday Father talked about good and evil in his homily. He said that evil is the absence of good and said it's like darkness being the absence of light. You flip the switch after walking into a dark room and you have light. And you flip the switch again and you remove the light-you have darkness again.
What a concept! Everything was good until Lucifer-a.k.a. Satan-decided he wanted to take charge and rebel instead of being faithful to God. And other angels decided to take his side instead of God's. So by being disobedient to God these fallen angels rejected good and chose evil. Of course, God wasn't-and still isn't-going to tolerate this lack of goodness in Heaven, so He had to throw them out of Heaven.
So He and St. Michael the Archangel went to work and got those devils out of Heaven and sent them off to Hell-a "place" that was made just for them.
Earth was perfect too, when Adam and Eve were created and they were perfectly happy. But they were tempted by Satan disguised as a serpent. The serpent asked Eve if God told her not to eat from any tree in the garden. She replied that she had been told she and Adam may eat from any tree in the garden-except for one. That was the one in the center of the garden-they were even told not to touch it. She said if she or Adam touched it they would die.
But the serpent told Eve that she wouldn't die if she ate the fruit of the tree; she would become like God and have knowledge of good and evil like Him. She tasted the fruit and it tasted good. And she gave some to Adam who ate it too. Then they found out they were naked and made clothes out of fig leaves. Then they were thrown out of the garden and had to suffer and die and everyone else had to suffer and die because of the sin they committed-what is known as Original Sin.
In fact the only two people who never had Original Sin on their souls were Jesus and His Mother Mary. Even John the Baptist had Original Sin in his soul while in the womb, but it was replaced by sanctifying grace when Mary arrived at the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Something was given to John while in the womb-sanctifying grace. Everyone else has to be baptized to be given sanctifying grace. And I've been thinking of baptism and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) as ways of removing sin as well as giving grace.
I noticed that when I took Latin in high school that sine, the word for "without" was spelled almost like "sin" except there was an "e" at the end. And in college when I took Spanish, sin, their word for "without" was spelled exactly like our word "sin." I also heard that the word "sin" means to miss the mark. I feel that I've missed the mark in many ways and need to ask-and allow-God to give me grace and whatever help He'll give me to be on the "mark."
And I've been accustomed to thinking that evil things were being added, such as communicable diseases (via the addition of bacteria or viruses), neighbors who make too much noise or knock on the door too often or at the wrong time, automobile accidents, violence, you name it.
We (myself included) ought to accept the good that Jesus and Mary have to offer us instead of all these bad things that seem to be "added" to our lives. God didn't create evil, but He does use it to test and strengthen us.
What a concept! Everything was good until Lucifer-a.k.a. Satan-decided he wanted to take charge and rebel instead of being faithful to God. And other angels decided to take his side instead of God's. So by being disobedient to God these fallen angels rejected good and chose evil. Of course, God wasn't-and still isn't-going to tolerate this lack of goodness in Heaven, so He had to throw them out of Heaven.
So He and St. Michael the Archangel went to work and got those devils out of Heaven and sent them off to Hell-a "place" that was made just for them.
Earth was perfect too, when Adam and Eve were created and they were perfectly happy. But they were tempted by Satan disguised as a serpent. The serpent asked Eve if God told her not to eat from any tree in the garden. She replied that she had been told she and Adam may eat from any tree in the garden-except for one. That was the one in the center of the garden-they were even told not to touch it. She said if she or Adam touched it they would die.
But the serpent told Eve that she wouldn't die if she ate the fruit of the tree; she would become like God and have knowledge of good and evil like Him. She tasted the fruit and it tasted good. And she gave some to Adam who ate it too. Then they found out they were naked and made clothes out of fig leaves. Then they were thrown out of the garden and had to suffer and die and everyone else had to suffer and die because of the sin they committed-what is known as Original Sin.
In fact the only two people who never had Original Sin on their souls were Jesus and His Mother Mary. Even John the Baptist had Original Sin in his soul while in the womb, but it was replaced by sanctifying grace when Mary arrived at the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Something was given to John while in the womb-sanctifying grace. Everyone else has to be baptized to be given sanctifying grace. And I've been thinking of baptism and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) as ways of removing sin as well as giving grace.
I noticed that when I took Latin in high school that sine, the word for "without" was spelled almost like "sin" except there was an "e" at the end. And in college when I took Spanish, sin, their word for "without" was spelled exactly like our word "sin." I also heard that the word "sin" means to miss the mark. I feel that I've missed the mark in many ways and need to ask-and allow-God to give me grace and whatever help He'll give me to be on the "mark."
And I've been accustomed to thinking that evil things were being added, such as communicable diseases (via the addition of bacteria or viruses), neighbors who make too much noise or knock on the door too often or at the wrong time, automobile accidents, violence, you name it.
We (myself included) ought to accept the good that Jesus and Mary have to offer us instead of all these bad things that seem to be "added" to our lives. God didn't create evil, but He does use it to test and strengthen us.
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