ALTHOUGH this topic has been taken up in a column of mine
some years ago, I believe it is good to make another review of it if
only to know better the true face of this reality of evil in our life,
its causes and sources, and its potentials for worse things as well as
for a greater good. Yes, evil can occasion a greater good in us.
Besides, with the new developments we are having now, it
is good also to update and adapt our understanding of evil to the new
and changing things of the world. This will help us to be more able to
deal with this phenomenon better.
At bottom, evil comes about because it is an abuse of the
good things God has given us. Evil cannot exist on its own. It has to
refer itself to a good that is being misused or abused, intentionally
or unintentionally.
We can say that God must already have known this from all
eternity when he decided to create the universe, and especially the
men and angels who, with their spiritual nature, with their power to
know and to love with their intelligence and will, have the capacity
either to do good by following God’s will or to do evil by disobeying
him.
So, it’s not that God had to scramble with a Plan B in his
work of creation because it was messed up by us. He already knew from
all eternity that evil would come about, and he has a way of dealing
with it that will always lead to his own glorification and to our own
good.
Truth is after the fall of our first parents who were
created in the perfect condition of what is known as the “state of
original justice,” all of us with the exception of the Blessed Virgin
cannot help but have an attraction to evil. This is what is called as
concupiscence which is not restricted only to matters of sex.
Concupiscence is a generalized attraction to all kinds of
evil which, due to our spiritual nature, can have infinite
possibilities. We cannot avoid it anymore. It’s kind of made part of
our genetics. No matter how saintly we like to be and we try to be
with our best efforts, this concupiscence can manage to rear its ugly
head at any time.
We should not be too surprised and worried about this,
since worrying will only make things worse. Worrying weakens our
personal resistance to concupiscence and can give a footing to the
devil who will always be around, eager to take advantage of the
situation.
What we have to do is just to try our best to pray and, as
Christ suggested, that we learn to deny ourselves and carry the cross.
In other words, we should lead a very active life of self-denial,
penance and mortification. We have to be wary of our tendency to be
self-indulgent or simply to be on our own, because that would only
make us easy prey to the allurements of evil.
Let’s also remember that while we bear this concupiscence
all throughout our life, it can never dominate us for long if we don’t
let it. It can always be overcome—obviously with God’s grace and not
only with our own efforts.
Besides, in the most mysterious wisdom of God, this
concupiscence can occasion a greater good for us. It attracts God’s
mercy to us. It points to us where we have to be most careful and
vigilant. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,” St. Paul
assures us in his Letter to the Romans. (5,20) And “God does not allow
you to be tempted beyond what you are able.” (1 Cor 10.13)
We should just be sport about this wounded condition of
ours in this life. Christ takes care of everything. And when we are
struck by evil, let’s go back to God as soon as we can, usually going
to confession with utmost sincerity and contrition.
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