Why God Allows Evil

It is a certain truth that if God in his providence exterminated every evil deed at once, killed every evil-doer, the final sum of goodness would be less.  We have our Lord’s own words for it; there would be diminution.  Goodness itself, sanctity itself, is fostered by the proximity of evil.  As Saint Augustine puts it so well:  it pleased God to make good come out of evil rather than to abolish all evil.  God could have abolished all evil in his omnipotence;  he did not;  he did the better thing;  he made good come out of evil, he makes sanctity come out of it;  makes martyrs through the cruelty of man, and give his Church the most glorious traditions of fortitude and courage through the very presence of enemies in her midst and around her walls.  When the great day of harvest comes, sanctity will be found to be so great and so high by very reason of the wickedness that encompassed it.

Our lives are constantly bound up with those of other people in some way or another.  Perhaps those people fail in many things, but they are in some way a portion of our own lives;  they partake of the graces we possess.  “The faithless husband,” says St. Paul, “will be sanctified through the believing wife.”  The children of believers are sanctified through the very fact of their paternity.  One person in a family may be the salvation of the whole family, though it may not be given to him to see the final issues and the ultimate results.  But there is the fact – an absolute certainty, goodness inevitably produces goodness; it is unconquerable, it cannot be stifled, it has greater ramifications than evil can ever have….One saint outweighs a hundred, a thousand, perhaps a million sinners.   The sanctity of one saint prevails over the sinfulness of a thousand sinners.  Sin is negative; sanctity, positive.  Sanctity is more powerful than sin; sanctity is, in fact, the only real power.

 Dom Anscar Vonier, O.S.B. 

1875 - 1938

Christmas Day

The Virgin had a more perfect faith than any other before her or since.  All her gestures were an expression of her faith and her tenderness.  She would have kissed His feet because he was her Lord, His cheek because He was her Son.  She would have remained quietly contemplating Him for a very long time.  

It has been said that the manger is a Chair of learning.  Today we should learn the lessons which Jesus teaches us, even when He is just a newly born child, from the very moment He opens His eyes on this blessed land of men.  He is born poor, and He teaches us that happiness is not to be found in an abundance of earthly goods.  He comes into the world without any ostentation, encouraging us to be humble and not to depend on the applause of men.  God humbled Himself to allow us to get near Him, so that we could give our love in exchange for His, so that our freedom might bow, not at the sight of His power merely, but before the wonder of His humility. ..Today our Savior is born.  There can be no room for sadness when Life has just been born; that Life which overcomes all fear of death and fills us with the joy of the pledge of eternity.  Nobody should feel excluded from sharing in such joy.  Our reason for rejoicing is common to all, because Our Lord, destroyer of sin and death, not finding anyone free of sin, has come to free us all.                      ~Saint Jose Marie Escriva

 

During these days of Christmas, we sing with exultation because love will be among us till the end of time.  The presence of the child is Love among men;  the world is no longer a place of darkness;  those who seek for love know where to find it.  It is essentially love that each man needs, even those men who claim to be already fully satisfied…Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

                                                           ~In Coversation with God volume 1 p. 222-227

 

 

 

Pro-Life Challenge:

Do I have a heart full of Christmas joy, ready to follow the Child wherever He may lead?

23^rd Day of Advent

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.  Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low.“

The voice of John the Baptist is heard inviting us to prepare “the way of the Lord”.  This invitation is especially a call to humility:  John was not only the herald of this virtue, but its model too.  We know by the testimony of Jesus Himself, that he was “more than a prophet” and that “there hath not risen among them that are born of women one greater than John the Baptist”.    John claimed to be nothing more than a mere voice, “the voice of  one crying in the wilderness:  Make straight the path of the Lord”. One greater was coming whom he declared himself  “unworthy to untie His sandal”.  And he added, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” 

 John the Baptist gives us the profound sentiments of humility with which, in our heart, we ought to make smooth “the way of the Lord”.  If the valleys, that is, our deficiencies, are to be filled up with love, then the mountains and hills, that is the vain pretense of pride, must be made low by humility.  A heart filled with self-love and pride cannot be filled with God, and too small will be the place reserved in it for the sweet Babe of Bethlehem.

                                                                                                            ~Divine Intimacy p. 64

 

Pro-Life Challenge:

Do I put aside my human concerns and boldly work to bring others to Christ?

22^nd Day of Advent

The Incarnation of the Word is the greatest proof of God’s infinite love for men.  God has loved man from all eternity, and in order to draw him to Himself, He did not hesitate to send His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.  With hearts full of love, we must run to meet Love who is about to appear “incarnate” in the Infant Jesus.  May it be a love that is faithful in great things as well as in small, an ingenious love that is always seeking opportunities to repay God’s infinite love.

“Love is repaid by love!” 

This is the motto which has made saints, and spurred a multitude of souls to greater generosity.

                                                                                                  ~Divine Intimacy p. 64

 

  

Pro-Life Challenge:

Do I seek opportunities to serve God by helping others?  Am I daring in my apostolate?  Is God asking more of me?

21st Day of Advent

 In Mary, we confirm the truth that generosity is a virtue of great souls, who know how to find their reward in the act of giving.  A generous person knows how to be loving and understanding and how to give help – without demanding love, understanding or help in return.  He gives and forgets he has given, and in this lies his riches.  He has understood that it is better to give and receive.  He realizes that to love is in its essence to give oneself to others.  Far from being an instinctive inclination, love is a conscious decision of the will to draw close to other people.  To be able to love truly it is important to be detached from everything and, especially, from self, to give gratuitously.  This detachment from self is the source of a balanced personality.  It is the secret of happiness. (Pope John Paul II, Address June 1, 1980)

                                                                             ~In Conversation with God vol. 1 p. 192

 

 

 

Pro-Life Challenge:

Do I give away myself without counting the cost?

 

20th Day of Advent

Unless you turn and become like children, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven. 

                                                                                                  ~Matthew 18: 3

 

To be little, you have to abandon yourself as children do, believe as children believe, beg as children beg.  ~St. Jose Maria Escriva

 

We have to approach Bethlehem with the dispositions of little children – simply, without prejudice, with our souls wide open to grace, and become completely child-like.  This is not childishness, but innocence and simplicity, devoid of any feeling of self-sufficiency.  A child is in constant need of its parents and knows it.  A child lives completely in the present and nothing more.  The greatest daring is always that of children.  Who cries for the moon, blind to dangers in getting what he wants?  We must renounce our pride and self-sufficiency, recognizing that we need grace and the help of God to find our way and keep it.  The child knows that when his father is there, nothing can go wrong and nothing bad can happen to him. Even though others may deceive him, he knows his father will never be unfriendly or hostile, because he understands.  Children are not unduly sensitive to fear of ridicule which paralyses so many undertakings.  Nor do they care about human respect born of pride and the dread of what others may think. Children tumble down, but they quickly pick themselves up again.  Unpleasant experiences are easily forgotten, not brooded upon as so often happens with adult souls.  Another consequence of spiritual childhood is the gentle virtue of meekness.  The adult soul assumes that he knows many things, but in reality he is ignorant.  He thinks he knows, but has in fact not penetrated beyond external appearances.   We can turn to Mary to learn how to be children in the sight of God.  Our Mother shows us how to be authentic sons and daughters, to love truly without limit, to be simple without the complications which come from selfishly thinking only about ourselves; to be happy, knowing that nothing can destroy hope.

                                                                                 ~In Conversation with God vol. 1 p. 177-183

 

 

 

Pro-Life Challenge:

Do I totally abandon myself to God’s will, believing as a child, and begging with the faith of a child?

New App Could Revolutionize Pro-Life Prayer and Action

The Los Angeles Archdiocese and Options United have teamed up to produce a new app that can increase prayer support and visibility of pro-life work.

LOS ANGELES — Pro-life action is about to undergo a 21st-century revolution: A new app for Smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices has the potential to open up a whole new digital frontier of prayer and support for thousands of women and girls over the United States in crisis pregnancies.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/new-app-could-revolutionize-pro-life-prayer-and-action?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NCRegisterDailyBlog+National+Catholic+Register#When:2013-12-17%2014:59:01#ixzz2nlEEzmh0