Pastor's Letter-- June 7, 2020

The old phrase about the devil being in the details seems to fit quite well with our current events in society. Whenever God is at work, and there is a good being achieved, the enemy will do what he can to undermine it in as many ways as possible. As tragic as it has been for our entire world, even this coronavirus pandemic has potential to bear abundant good fruit. Perhaps God has saved many souls that he has called home to himself. Perhaps all of us have had the opportunity to take an inventory of our lives and of our hearts, and re-examine what we are about and what we are pursuing, thus allowing us to truly find the Lord Jesus once again as the only thing that we can really build our lives around. Perhaps this unique time has allowed families to rebuild relationships, to grow in intimacy, and to establish a deeper connection that will endure for decades. Maybe this has allowed people to grow in other areas of virtue, to grow deeper in the habits of prayer, to develop new skills, or to slow down from the busyness of life.

However, the devil is in the details. The enemy perhaps may also have gained ground in hearts that were tragically uprooted in this time. Perhaps many people have suffered due to economic difficulties, strife in the home, tension in long-distance relationships, or the loss of certain opportunities that were rightfully foregone for the sake of the common good. Perhaps the enemy has caused a great disturbance in the hearts of others, so that this unrest in individual hearts has spurred unjust reactions in other areas of life.

The same duality of growth and digression is possible for the protests we are witnessing in many cities. Anger is the natural response to injustice, according to St. Thomas Aquinas. When one perceives something as unjust, the healthy mind is upset, and is motivated to try to set things right. God who created us in his image and likeness himself was angry in various parts of the old testament when there were injustices occurring. We see Jesus angry at all kinds of injustices, but that “righteous anger“ was motivated by love, which is a desire for the good of another person. Jesus was angry because he wanted things to be set right so that human beings could flourish in true justice toward God and neighbor. But love always ordered his response in a proper way. Anger was not allowed to take the driver seat away from love.

Currently people are experiencing anger over many different injustices. But all of us, no matter what circumstance we are in, need to be motivated by love in our response.

It’s also a great tragedy that in the midst of the current uproar about police brutality and concern for racial equality, other people seem to be hijacking the situation for greater evil: destruction of property, theft, looting, labeling other people and diminishing their human dignity, and even harming (or perhaps killing) innocent bystanders, such as a priest sitting on the front steps of a church in Indianapolis. Indeed, the devil is in the details, and the enemy works to take a good motivation off track and create various sorts of collateral damage.

Things that start well do not automatically end well, especially if we are not continually opening ourselves to God’s grace and being obedient to his will. If we are not cooperating with God at all times and in every way, we will lose track.

I also think as we have often seen in recent years, manners and decency are actually very important things, and not some silly tradition of days past. If I am in the habit of saying please and thank you and practicing acts of courtesy, I have fostered a habit of looking at the dignity of the other person in front of me and not putting myself at the center. This act of humility is very important for allowing love to grow within my heart. Although it may have been overdone in past societies that were perhaps too formal, we do a great disservice to our society when manners and decency are cast aside, when our speech and our behavior do not consciously manifest a desire to acknowledge with reverence the dignity of the other person right in front of me (or on social media). Let’s live these small acts of love of neighbor and help others to do the same.

Please pray that we keep our eyes on the prize of radical holiness. The most important thing I can do to make the world better is to make sure that my heart is totally in God’s possession, for then I see the world as he sees it, and see all others as His children.