After Norway: Is Evil Gaining on Us?

Watching the horrendous pictures that came out of Norway, and looking at the daily headlines full of looming chaos, stagnated employment, frustration, divided government, economic uncertainty (is the “debt-ceiling crisis” a true “crisis” or extended misdirection?) and more, it’s easy to think that evil is gaining on us — that it is winning.

In her column, A Word in Season, Pat Gohn looks at this season of trepidation and uncertainty and her word is this: do not fall prey to that illusion:

Amid shock and dismay, and our wrestling with the presence of evil, there is also God—who speaks a word in the face of evil and death.

That word is Providence—Divine Providence.

In our finite minds, we often mistakenly see good and evil as equal powers; they are not.

But our minds are so impressed and distressed by evil that we are tempted to believe it.

The truth is that evil is limited; it comes from created sources. Goodness, by contrast, is an attribute of an uncreated, almighty God—the Author of creation—and God’s Providence encompasses and upholds all of creation. Goodness outweighs evil because it originates and flows from God.

This is solid catechesis, not pie-in-the-sky, and if you’re feeling beset and besieged, you should read it all