Julian of Norwich was 13th Century Catholic Theologian
and Mystic. (Link) During
a vision of Christ’s pain and suffering, she wondered why sin and evil
happened. The world would be better without it.
“But Jesus, who informed me of all that is needed by me, answered and
said: ‘It was necessary that there
should be sin; but all shall be
well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.' ”
There
has always been evil in the world. In Genesis it is the reason given for the
flood: The earth
was corrupt in the view of God and full of lawlessness. The LORD saw how great
the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire their heart
conceived was always nothing but evil….
As
always, a good and holy person can make a difference. Noah
found favor with the LORD. Noah walked with God.
Because
of His love for Noah, God saved us by the Ark and efforts of a good and holy man.
Noah listened and followed the word of God.
God
made a promise to this faithful man and his descendants. It was a sacred blood promise, a covenant - tied
with a (rain)bow.
The
Gospel of God was this, I am establishing my covenant
with you and your descendants and every living creature that was with you. There
shall not be another flood to devastate the earth
It was necessary, but all shall be
well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
But,
there has always been evil in the world.
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the
desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.
Jesus
overcame temptation and proclaimed the gospel of God: “This is the time of
fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the
gospel."
To
fight the evil that is in the world Jesus tells us to repent, to change our
minds from the way of thinking of those around us.
But,
there has always been evil and lawlessness in the world. Evil still exist, it is all around us. School
shootings, murders, human trafficking and slavery, violence and attacks on
human dignity. Evil attacks all of God’s creation.
Evil
has always found a way to attack us in the world. How do we fight evil?
Find
a new way of thinking. Proclaim the Gospel as Peter did – repent and be
baptized. Baptism, which saves you, is an appeal to God
for a clear conscience.
Baptism
calls us to a new way of thinking, a clear moral conscience found in the
salvation of Jesus Christ. Proclaim the Gospel. Repent
the kingdom of heaven is at hand, believe in the gospel.
How
do we fight evil? Listened and follow the Word of God. Follow Jesus.
Jesus
walked with God. Jesus Christ is the word of God. Christ Jesus is God. He is
the new sacred blood promise, the new covenant tied with the bow of the cross.
He is the promise of eternal life. Christ suffered for
our sins, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you
to God.
We
will always wonder why there is sin and evil in the world.
To
that answer, Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, President of the Oblate School of
Theology, San Antonio Texas, writes, God,
being so unimaginable in love and power, is able to draw good out of evil,
happiness out of suffering, and redemption out of sin in ways that we cannot
yet grasp.
It
is hard to grasp how good can come from the evil we see in the world. Evil blinds
us from knowing how truly great God is; but, Jesus Christ is God’s healing
against all the sin and evil in the world.
God’s
healing transforms human beings and all of creation that groans in the pains of
evil in a world awaiting the salvation of God. Repent and
believe in the gospel and all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all
manner of thing shall be well.
For
each of us, all shall be well, tied with the bow of our baptism.
Be
good, be holy and preach the gospel by the way your live and love. Amen.
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