But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other. Matthew 5:39 What does it mean to turn the other cheek? The wag in me would like to insist that, when insulted, we should respond with all the cheek we canContinue reading “Holy Cheek”
Tag Archives: evil
Serpents and Stones
Announcing the birth of St. John the Baptist, which we celebrate today, the Angel of the Lord explained his greatness in these terms: He shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and virtue of Elias; that he may turn theContinue reading “Serpents and Stones”
Giving Good Things
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:11 St. Paul tells us that “all paternity in heaven and earth is named” after “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”Continue reading “Giving Good Things”
Fighting for Peace
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9 As Father Kirby reminds us, St. Augustine defined peace as the “tranquility of order.” In its proper place, including right relations with other creatures, every being is good. Only the disorder produced by ripping a thing out of its properContinue reading “Fighting for Peace”
The Training of the Saints
All the evil men, from Cain to those who desolate the universe today, have had the appearance of great and powerful princes who have produced a great effect in the world and whom men have worshipped. All these monsters only come into the world to exercise the courage of the children of God, and whenContinue reading “The Training of the Saints”
Missing the Middle, For the Love of Money
The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the extremity of both ends. Apemantus to Timon As Tony Tanner notes in his Introduction to Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens, the play presents us with a succession of extremes. Timon begins as a civic demigod, feasting the senators and lords of ancient Athens with an apparently bottomlessContinue reading “Missing the Middle, For the Love of Money”
Show us Thy Face!
St. Thomas summarizes perennial wisdom when he defines evil as the absence of good. But what defines the good whose absence constitutes evil? In its broadest sense, “good is everything appetible,” or worth desiring. “Since every nature desires its own being and perfection,” it follows that, according to the objective order of things, “the beingContinue reading “Show us Thy Face!”
"His Tongue shall Speak Judgment" 