We know with certitude that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. We know that Our Lord Jesus Christ always has and always will defeat evil. What we do not know with such assurance is whether or not we ourselves will stand victorious with Him. There is no guarantee given to us on this point. So then, what must we do to be a part of the Church’s Triumph? How are we to overcome evil in our own lives?
It is essential for us to recognize the battle lines if we are to win with Our Lord’s Church. Sr. Catherine Clark gives this clear summary: “The center of Lucifer’s attack is that which is the center of his proud jealousy. The center of his attack is the great eminence bestowed upon a little Virgin of Nazareth, become the Mother of the true God. The war of all ages, and the great fight of the Church, is between Lucifer and Mary. For the odds, so to speak, are ridiculous if God fights the enemy He has created, whom He can at any moment annihilate with one act of His Will. True wars are carried on at essentially equal levels, as between creature and creature, and that is why, in the Garden of Eden, as recounted in Genesis 3:15, God declared to the mighty Lucifer inhabiting a snake, ‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel’” (Our Glorious Popes, Ch. 1).
It is, then, only her seed — her devoted children — who will be able to overcome the infernal seed of the enemy. And we do this by persevering in the good. That is how our wise and loving Creator has set it up. To the extent that we love and do what is good and right, to that extent we defeat evil – we participate, even if only to a small degree, in God’s own power over the dark side. The words “small degree” should not discourage us. If we are disciples of Saint Therese and her “little way,” we will embrace our own smallness and trust in God’s “Bigness” all the more. We also, for what it is worth, have the authority of Gandalf the Grey on this important question: “Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay… small acts of kindness and love.”
If we are to “persevere in the good,” we will have to know what the good is. By “the good” is meant those things which are from God for our benefit, things that He wants us to love and appreciate, and which bring us closer to Him: life, peace, wisdom, love, etc. These are goods. The greatest good, of course, is God Himself — our Summum Bonum — and all lesser goods are from Him and lead us to Him. We must recognize both the natural and supernatural gifts that our gracious God has given us, including His very Self by the Trinitarian indwelling in our souls if we are in sanctifying grace. Those who do not know what things are good will not cling to them. And there actually happens to be a tremendous lack of clarity on this subject in the world today. A heavy fog of confusion has settled upon us, and there are few who are unaffected by it. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Is. 5:20). Was Isaias being given a vision of the 21st Century when he said this — or is it a perennial problem for our fallen race?
When we know what is good, then what is evil becomes apparent. Our task is to fill our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts with nutritional content. “He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good” (Is. 7:15). If we have a genuine desire for the butter of truth and the honey of beauty, we need only go to the Queen-General of God’s army. She freely dispenses all kinds of artillery, tactical strategies, and basic provisions to the soldiers who come to her. It is really not difficult for her to scrounge up some butter and honey for those who truly desire it.
Another hurdle that we face, and which perhaps the Virgin Mary alone can overcome, is the problem of addiction. If we are to persevere in the good, our free wills must be intact and functional. By addictions, our already weak wills become enfeebled to the point of enslavement. The slippery slope begins with something that is either actually good or apparently good. Coffee, for example, is not an evil thing, but a good thing – it can help us in accomplishing our every day duties. However, when we stop choosing to drink coffee because of its benefits, and begin to guzzle it immoderately and slavishly, regardless of the bad effects it is causing, then we abuse rather than use our free wills. And really, coffee is the least destructive addiction that people suffer from.
Coffee is not mentioned in Holy Scripture, but wine certainly is — as a good thing. This noble libation, which Jesus chose as the matter for the Precious Blood in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, is praised in the Old-Testament Wisdom literature: “A concert of music in a banquet wine is as a carbuncle set in gold. As a signet of an emerald in a work of gold: so is the melody of music with pleasant and moderate wine” (Ecclus. [Sirach] 32:7). Yet, Saint Paul, who also recommended wine to Saint Timothy for its healthful effects (1 Tim. 5:23), warns against its abuse elsewhere: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury…” (Eph. 5:18).
Whatever form the chains may take: drugs, alcohol, pornography, electronic devices — insofar as we enfeeble our free wills, we diminish their ability to choose the good. Our blindness to this ugly reality doesn’t make it disappear, either. It is only when we face the truth, know ourselves and our addictions, that we are able to do something about them. It may be that the bonds holding us are not able to be broken by any purely natural means, but luckily for us, we are not restricted to using purely natural means. It is not even remotely difficult for the Virgin Most Powerful to lead us back to freedom. “Break the captives’ fetters, light on blindness pour, all our ills expelling, every bliss implore!” (Vespers hymn, Ave Maris Stella)
Lastly, we will want to be ready for the challenge of perseverance itself. When we fail to do what is good (it happens from time to time), it is imperative for us to still admit that it is indeed good. You may think this is obvious, but really it can be quite painful to our pride. In fact, I think it is where we are most tempted to let go. Seeing ourselves fall and fall again, failing to do what we know we should, we can be tempted to second guess how good our goal really was in the first place. We look to save face by letting go of our “high ideals.” It is very much like the fox denying the goodness of the lovely, ripe grapes after he failed to obtain them.
The hateful devil would like nothing better than to see us discouraged by our sins. Being resolute in our choice to keep going back to God, regardless of how awful we have been, or how embarrassing it is, or how much pain is involved, conquers the devil. Saint Teresa says it this way, “The devil is very much afraid of resolute souls, knowing by experience that they inflict great injury upon him” (The Way of Perfection, Ch. 23).
Our Almighty King, Who sees our efforts, not only protects us from being overcome by evil, but through us, He defeats evil. Every time we choose the good – love a new baby, help a child learn to read, every time we get out of bed to go to work, or help a neighbor, or pray the family rosary, or go to confession, or receive Holy Communion – we are attacking the gates of hell. Satan, the devils, and all the damned tremble at the power of God present in each good act. They are powerless against us when we love and choose the good.
I cannot think of any words more encouraging than those given to us by the Holy Ghost through Saint Paul: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). Virgin Most Powerful, pray for us!
