Confession: I’’ve always been a little afraid of the dark.
Even when I’m in a familiar environment, the thought of something unexpected popping up frightens me because it’s impossible to see it coming in the dark.
I think this image can be related to our spiritual lives. So often we try to face temptation on our own. Dealing with our weaknesses without inviting Christ into our struggles is very much like walking through a dark hallway. Christ is the Light. He is truth. So when we neglect the Light in our life, sin is guaranteed to creep into our souls, sometimes without us even realizing it. We may think our souls are in good shape because we keep it dark. However, when we see our souls in the truth of the Light, we see the messy state they are in.
I like this image because I think it accurately portrays how evil creeps into our hearts and world. During these turbulent times for society and our Church, it is critical now more than ever before to live in the Light. So today, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on a few of the evils in the world and use them to help us examine our own hearts.
How Did We Get Here
Looking out at the world, many times it’s easy to recognize evil when it’s obvious. The most recent examples of this are the sex abuse scandals that have happened in the Catholic Church for the past thirty years.
I often ask: how did we get here?
My heart hurts when I think about those priests and victims involved in the scandal. First it hurts for the victims because they are innocent and didn’t deserve any of it.
But next, it hurts for the priests.
How broken and lost they must be to inflict this kind of injustice and lead their flock astray to such a degree. How far they have wandered away from the Light of Christ, in the darkness of their souls.
But to think it all started with something small…
Maybe it was slow in the beginning, with a simple temptation. Maybe they gave into that temptation once, went a little further into the darkness. Then the further they got in, the more they couldn’t see the light. Until the devil grabbed ahold of them and they confused darkness with light. Maybe they rationalized their sins. Or thought as long as nobody found out, no harm was done…
“It Feels Right”
Just to be clear, I am in no way condoning their behavior. Evil is evil, period. However, I wanted to use it as an example for how the devil works in our lives.
Think about all the evil in the world… terrorist attacks, abortion, unjust wars, etc…
Many of these probably began with people full of good intentions who thought they were doing the right thing because they were walking in darkness.
The people who flew their plane into the twin towers on 9/11 probably THOUGHT they were doing the right thing (in their own twisted head). Mothers who abort their children THINK they are making the right choice for their life. Countries that kill innocent people in war probably TELL THEMSELVES those people deserve it.
As Saint Francis de Sales once said,
“Hell is paved with good intentions and wills.”
Maybe I’m too good hearted and see too much good in people, but I think most people don’t set out to do evil. I think that’s the point St. Francis was trying to make. The devil knows we won’t want to follow him. Who in this world actually wants to go to hell?! Nobody!
So the devil tricks us into confusing right and wrong, good and evil. We walk in darkness and call it light. When we keep our weaknesses, struggles, and temptations in the darkness we give him room to work. He will rationalize our temptations until we think they are the right thing to do.
Just because something “feels right” doesn’t mean it is. So how do we make sure we don’t start rationalizing our weaknesses?
Simple: Come back to the Light.
When the Lights Come On
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8: 12)”
Jesus is the Light. Truth resides in the Light. So what happens when we come back to the truth of the Gospel… when the lights finally come on in the room?
We see our mess. We see all our flaws and weaknesses and sin, and we should be disgusted. And at that point we have three options:
- We can ignore them. We can turn the lights off again to cover up our weaknesses and flaws so we don’t shatter the perception we’ve created of ourselves.
- We can rationalize them and find a way to make them seem like a good thing so we don’t have to change.
- We can see them for what they are: temptation, sins, evil… and come back to live in Truth.
When we see people who have strayed far from truth, from the light, it’s because they have chosen option 1 or 2. Because if we are truly living in the light, it’s impossible to confuse good and evil, right and wrong, light and dark. We will see sin for what it is.
But we have to bring the light back to do that.
Bring the Light Back
We may have never done things as bad as the priests who abused adolescents, the terrorists who flew their planes into the twin towers, or people who take innocent lives, but we all have temptations and sins. Darkness is always trying to creep in on us.
Whether it be lust, selfishness, pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, pride, envy, greed, or other vices, each us us has a particular struggle. And it’s those small temptations and subtle invitations to darkness that grew into bigger sins that became the atrocities we read about in newspapers and see on television. Every single one of those people committing grave evil got pulled into the darkness with a small vice. That small vice grew and grew until it became what it is today.
Don’t let that happen to your own heart.
Come back to the Light– Jesus Christ.
In this world full of moral relativism and rationalization it is critical now more than ever to examine our hearts and intentions. We must bring Christ in and be willing to let Him change our hearts.
When struggling with a temptation, bring it to Jesus. Tell Him about it. Read scripture to search for answers with how to deal with it. Talk to your closest friends to hold you accountable. Examine your conscience. Arm yourself with the sacraments- frequent Communion and Confession.
It’s a battlefield for our souls out here. Don’t let your heart be won over by the enemy.
Fight the darkness.
Stay in the Light.
From the depths of my soul,
Josie
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