Today’s Gospel tells of Jesus casting out a devil. Who is the Devil, and how does he relate to 21st-century Christianity?
In most cultures, the Devil is seen as the personification of evil. But what do we mean by evil? The perception of evil is a direct, immediate experience of something done to an individual. Evil is meaningless, senseless destruction. It strives always and everywhere to annihilate—to turn to nothing. Evil is nothingness, an absence of good.
It is this absence of good that can have such an impact on us. St. Thomas Aquinas’s first principle of ethical human action, the core of his natural law, was not just to avoid evil. St. Thomas told us to “Do good and avoid evil.” Doing good is a requirement for a fulfilling life. Our own demons can limit our ability to do good; they include greed, selfishness, pride, envy, anger, fear of offending others, and lack of initiative.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy provides us with some moral guidelines:
"Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice."
This is a challenging time in the United States. It is an important time, indeed, to “do the right thing.” We must overcome our demons and do what we can to aid the needy, support the marginalized, and welcome strangers to our land. This is a time for action—we must not turn our heads from that which we know is wrong.
