“The angel of death is coming! And he’s very big!” Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal
Let’s talk about evil, shall we, Reader-land?
Fr Jason Wooleyhan, TOR, introduced me to a great thinker when we were in tech school. One of his podcasts, linked here, talks about Ten Insights on Evil, from the Lord of the Rings.
Before we begin, let’s unpack. Kreeft is a genius, and he’s the perfect person to talk to me, he thinks along the same lines and breaks down books we think are just fiction. The talk I link to is a clear bell, and you must listen to it, take it in stages but LISTEN!!
Truth is, I don’t want to write. I am so disheartened by the evil going on, that I find it hard to focus on anything else. Mel warned me, is concerned by it, but there it is (and Mel is right). I can’t stop thinking about how BIG the evil is, I even wrote a friend asking if he ever felt like evil was winning?! In the world right now we are killing tiny humans and we don’t care! The church is overtaken by prelates who question if Jesus founded a church, and he’s a bishop!!! It’s overwhelming. That is what the devil wants!
Then, a memory hit me. The quote I have up top, and then the memory of listening to a podcast my friend recommended. Then the other memory of Fr Peter saying the victory has already been won!
I can’t say too much without plagiarizing, I am sorry. But I do want to highlight some points. Evil is real. We have to choose to do good. The price is very high.
For some, it might be a lot of people turning on you, not talking to you anymore because they don’t like what you are saying. For others, it might be threats of physical violence, and the harassment of your work across your community. For others, the loss of a job, or being pushed away from the negotiating table. Reputations. Deals falling through. Even prison or physical violence or death. Makes a different outlook, doesn’t it? Even frightening as hell! How many of us will be willing to pay the price against evil?
Of course, that doesn’t mean it is easy. The whole point is that it isn’t, and we fail. I’m the first one over the cliff, I am the first guilty one.
But, Reader-land, I’m going to shut up, and I want you to take forty-five minutes and listen to a man who helps us think properly. Please listen, he says more than I ever could!
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
Joe's ChronicALS 