Evil triumphs when we do not "watch and pray"

Palm Sunday. Apr. 17, 2011
Fr. Joseph Eddy, O. de M.
Gospel: Matt. 26:14 – 27:66 Betrayal of Judas, and Peter”s denial
(Sorry, no audio)

(Full text of homily) Listening to this gospel passage evokes so many feelings and emotions in us. Certainly, it should bring us to feel certain sadness. Something horrible happened that day. God’s own son was sacrificed for our salvation.  Of course, we know that great good came from this offering of Jesus on the Cross. Yet, we can’t help but realize that so many reacted very badly to the drama of that first Holy Week. They left Jesus utterly alone to bear his cross. What do we do when evil threatens? We would all like to think like Peter, that we would be willing to die for the truth, but would we?

Fr. Joseph is the vocation director of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, founded to redeem Christians whose faith is in danger. The Order”s student house in the U.S. is in Philadelphia.

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It is not as if evil has not threatened the human race. Most recently we can’t forget the great evil of Nazi Germany and the holocaust that came from it. Often people think why didn’t somebody do something? We have a Pope now who was a young boy when Germany was overcome with by an evil rule. His parents were among those who resisted the Nazi movement. His father moved the family several times to avoid the sweeping current of evil. The pope recalls that, “My own years as a teenager were marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers; its influence grew – infiltrating schools and civic bodies, as well as politics and even religion – before it was fully recognized for the monster it was. It banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good.” (April 19, 2008)

Evil can remain hidden

The pope reminds us that oftentimes evil can remain hidden and people can misinterpret it until it is too late. That is what happened with the Nazi regime.  And in some ways it happened with the drama of Holy Week. There are many different ways we react when evil threatens. We see this in Matthew’s gospel today. Some like Judas are very perceptive, they see the threat coming. But, this causes despair in them because they lack faith and trust in God.  Judas was awaiting a military Messiah and when he saw that Jesus” kingdom was not of this world, he became anxious. Judas doubted Jesus” power and sought instead to get what he could from the situation. He aligns himself with the evil and becomes a tool of evil.

Some people certainly did this in Nazi Germany and experience some temporary prestige. Another way of reacting to the threat of evil is to seek to fight it by purely human means. This is what we see in Peter. Peter is a man of great love and great zeal, yet he too lacks faith. He is the one to always speak first with power, but he fears the cross and lacks trust in the power of God. By purely human means, Peter seeks to defend Jesus. He cuts off the high priest’s servant’s ear out of zeal to defend the Lord. Later, he seeks to quietly remain close to Jesus during his trial. In doing this, Peter realizes that his plans and strength are not enough. Peter denies the Lord three times and becomes part of the Lord’s suffering.

Finally, the disciples show us that people can just plain miss the evil that is growing in their mist. This is the case with the three disciples who were asked to keep watch while Jesus prayed. They fall asleep, not once or twice, but three times.  Each time, Jesus is distraught by their lack of attention. He tells them to watch and pray. How many from pre-World War II Germany wish that they could go back and do something to prevent the great evil that happened? But, unfortunately many were asleep.

“Dictatorship of relativism”

It is easy to look back at history and judge what should have been done. However, it is more important that we learn lessons from the past and prevent future evil.  Our own Holy Father knows a thing or two about “sinister regimes.” Since the beginning of his pontificate he has been warning the world about “a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one”s own ego and desires.” (Sept. 16, 2010) This is a belief in western culture that there is no objective truth. One person’s truth is just as good as another. They justify this on the basis of each person’s freedom.

“But what purpose has a “freedom” which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong?”  Christian freedom is our ability to pursue and seek what is true, beautiful, and good.  However, in the common thought today, truth is not attainable and to present something as objectively right or wrong is an attack against freedom. We can see how quickly a society can degenerate to the point of allowing all sorts of immoral behaviors to become commonplace in the name of freedom. The Pope went so far as to warn Queen Elizabeth and all of England against “aggressive forms of secularism which no longer value, or even tolerate, religious voices in public life.” (Sept. 16, 2010) The reality is that true freedom to live morally healthy lives can and will be lost if western culture continues along the path of moral relativism. A dictatorship which forces moral voices to be silent is arising and will continue to arise.

Standing with Jesus

What are we to do in such a situation? Well, the gospel today gives us a clue on what to do when evil threatens. We must trust the Lord’s guidance with us. He is as he said, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” There is no need to despair like Judas. However, we must not trust only in ourselves like Peter. Jesus will open the way for us to combat evil if we “stay awake” and “pray.” Coming to the Lord in prayer we gain strength and courage to know how to combat relativism. We must stand with Jesus and his truth in a world that no longer accepts his teachings. We need to cry out in our families and communities that some things are morally unacceptable. We must avoid programs, conversations, and groups that advocate immoral practices.

Oh, if people could only have noticed the evil that threatened pre-war Germany. How many lives would have been saved? How much suffering could have been avoided? But all we can do is learn from the past. As Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”