In the original column I wrote for this week, I made reference to the attack on Catholic nuns and a priest that occurred in Yemen at the beginning of March. I finished a first draft of said column on Monday night and figured I'd work on it a little more before final submission Tuesday afternoon. Of course that was before I'd gone to sleep and woken up to a smouldering Belgium.
As of this writing, the facts of the attack in Brussels are still coming to light, but it is clear that the authors of this latest devastation belong to the same organization that planned and executed the attacks in Paris and Yemen. ISIS is clearly still on the march, and its global reach is getting deadlier, with no sight of relief in the near future.
To be clear, I didn't want to write about any of these things. It's Holy Week, and I wanted to write on the meaning of Lent, the Passion of our Lord and the beauty of Easter Vigil. This sacred time for Western Christianity is best spent reflecting on the saving power of the Almighty and the triumph of good over evil. Yet here we are, with death and fear covering our screens.
Why God allows evil to exist has been a question asked for thousands of years. In fact the question pre-dates Christianity, as the book of Job and other wisdom literature clearly shows. I cannot pretend to know enough theology and scripture to argue the point properly, but from my few years on this earth as a God-fearing creature, I have a suspicion that the greatest feat of evil is not just the damage it inflicts but actually the distraction it causes.
Make no mistake, it is right and just to feel genuine anger and disgust at the atrocities that have occurred around the world. And certainly there are measures that should be taken to prevent further violence and it is our duty to pray that our leaders take such steps as expeditiously as possible.
But the temptation to take revenge or to give into despair is just that -- a temptation, an invitation from personified evil to step towards emulating and ultimately becoming the very evil we have witnessed. And as the gospel makes clear, the best way to combat such an invitation is to keep one's attention on "the way, the truth, and the life."
Throughout the drama of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, his followers deny him and scatter, religious authorities accuse him, and the state tortures him, ultimately to death. In all these things, he continues to encourage his disciples, heal one of his arrestors, call for God's mercy on his persecutors and ultimately commend his spirit into God the Father's hands. Under unrelenting pain and injustice, he keeps his eyes on eternity.
How one navigates the feelings resulting from the tragedies we have witnessed is up to each individual's conscience. But I have made a promise to myself to pray for those who have died and those still suffering from the evil of terror and instability around the world from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday.
To be perfectly candid, I have no idea how it will help those in need or where such invocations will lead me -- but I suppose that's why they call it an act of faith.
Have a blessed Easter.
