Why is there evil in us and in the world?
Peter Mills had a piece of property that the Bishop Stanislaus wished to purchase in order to build a cathedral in honor of our Blessed Mother. Peter sold him the property but died before the good Bishop could get something in writing. Unfortunately, the relatives desired to claim the property as part of their inheritance. They lied and said that the bishop had not paid for the property and they sued the bishop for the property. Despite the fact that the bishop did all in his power to establish his title, the court was on the verge of granting the property to the in-laws. The saintly bishop asked for three days and he would bring Peter to court to testify to the truth. They cried out that that was impossible for he has been dead over a year. The bishop said that he would be there in three days to testify.
The bishop went home and prayed, fasted, disciplined his body and asked for the miracle to prove his claim on the property for our Lady. In three days with many witnesses he went to the grave of the man. They dug up the coffin and inside they found only bones. The bishop touched the bones with his staff and the bones began to unite, flesh began to cover the bones and then there was Peter. He went directly to the court and with the amazed judge and relatives present he answered the question of the purchase. He turned to his relatives and warned them that their evil intent would send them to hell if they did not do penance. With the matter settled the bishop asked Peter if he would like to remain in this world for a few more years.
His response was no. He wanted to return to Purgatory because he would soon be purified for heaven. He feared that this world could lead him to deny God. Now how does this expose our own spiritual situation. Note that our Lord, the Word made Flesh, entered our humanity to sow the seeds of eternal truth. Satan sows the seeds of egoism and pride. Our souls receive the seeds and they begin to grow in us. If we nourish the seeds of virtue then our character will become virtuous. If we nourish the seeds of pride and sin, then we can become the weeds that grow with the wheat. In Peter’s clan the desire for the goods of this world blinded them to the virtue of honestly. Many seek a temporal gain while they lose the vision of heaven.
The parable of the wheat and the weeds teaches us on three levels. On the level of the flesh we must learn to discipline ourselves to be the friends of God as the saintly bishop was. In fact, this good bishop challenged the King Boleslav to correct his sinful life. The king’s response was to come into the very church and slay the good bishop while he offered the holy mass. Heroes are proven in the fire of the evil one who seeks to destroy goodness. On the level of the flesh the Demon-crats seek to destroy any one who seeks to be an individual and grow in virtue. Contrast the mob verses jobs. Contrast the rule of law with an invasion of people flooding our southern borders. All of this emotion has but one source–the father of chaos and confusion. The devil sows the seeds and the good soul must resist.
From the flesh we rise to the level of the intellect. The goal of the intellect is to grasp the Truth. The intellect begins to be operative after the flesh when the soul achieves the use of reason. To conquer the power of reason the evil one pushes the power of the emotions. The language of this emotional weed bearer focuses on “what I feel.” It does not care if it makes no sense; what matters is my feelings. Our country and our church is dividing on this level so that the absolute truth is now subject to the evolution of emotion. Hence we learn about the “living tradition” which flows from within the person. Therefore revelation according to our modernist prelates is in constant evolution. Nothing is sacred; nothing is absolute.
Principles and dogma are no longer stable but adapt to the politics and the culture of the current day. “Updating” is the only principle that seems to matter. Yet growing up with this modernist sickness is a healthy respect for life, for truth, for the absolutes. Society now is in a battle for its very life. There is the absolute statement that Jesus Christ (the Way, the Truth, the Light) is the same yesterday; today and forever. This Truth is being attacked by the false modernist theology which claims that Jesus is just one of the many ways to the kingdom of God. All of this can be summed up in the words of our Lord: “You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
Why this conflict? Simply because the world is the stage of salvation. God has placed us here to make a decision. He will wait and patiently call each one of us through the trial to commit our souls to the eternal and thus place the intellect and the flesh in their proper position in our life. The wheat can become moldy or the weed may choose to become one with the wheat. No one is encased in the wheat or the weeds until our final moment when the grand reaper says: “Your time is up.” Then our lives will be judged and the reality of heaven, purgatory and hell will be most intensely realized.
How important it is to make up our minds now to be the saints that this world needs and that we desire. Hold to the traditions of our fathers. Increase daily in your love of our dear Mother Mary. Daily use a little time to enjoy a spiritual communion with our Lord. In silence read our Lord’s love letter to us…the Holy Bible. Study the saints and imitate their virtue. Then you shall be the wheat that God will gather into His Kingdom.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt, S.D.B
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