The Problem of Evil

Photo by Alina Miroshnichenko on Unsplash

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing. -James 1:22-25


I finished reading Dennis Lehane's Gone Baby Gone this week. I wanted to compare it to the movie version, which my son had recommended to me a few months back. I was surprised by what I took to be the Catholic perspective of the movie, although others argue with me about that interpretation. From the opening quote of something Patrick Kenzie's pastor had said to him years previously to his deciding to watch Amanda, while her mother, Helene, resumes her old ways in the final scene of the movie, Patrick's morality was decidedly influenced by his Catholic upbringing. While the movie focuses more on Patrick's moral decisions and how he lives them out irrespective of the consequences, the book focuses more on Patrick's struggle with explaining the unspeakable evil surrounding him within the context of his Catholic faith, a faith he no longer practices very actively precisely because it doesn't account for the evil he sees every day.

There are different moments in the novel in which Patrick asks whether God is listening or whether God cares. Such questioning is Patrick's last line in the novel. Yet, Patrick answered the question for himself during the course of his investigation, but never picks up on it. One of Patrick's best friends, Bubba, a friend he's had since grade school, is a very sadistic local arms dealer. When two other criminals wrong Bubba, Bubba brings along Patrick to assist him in the torture and murder of these two men. Despite his own participation in this incredibly evil act, Patrick fails to grasp man's role in both the participation in and the prevention of evil acts.

In the novel, Patrick justifies his participation in the torture and murder of the two criminals by his gun-running best friend by seeing it as the deserved and necessary elimination of two criminals, something which he distinguishes from the evil committed by criminals on the innocent. That evil cannot be done to achieve a good is lost on Patrick. The corollary, that the prevention of present evil prevents or limits future evil, seems lost on him, as well.

But that corollary is lost on us, as well.

It is so easy to absolve ourselves of our responsibilities as Catholics by requiring God to make our lives easy rather than asking Him to make us holy. The question of evil is an excellent example of this mindset. "Why is there such evil in the world? Why won't God make it all go away?" The fact is God has given us everything we need to eliminate evil from the world or to get incredibly close to that goal, if only we would do a little work along those lines. Christ has given us the Church, the Sacraments, the Holy Mass on a daily basis, the Bible, the wonderful examples of the lives of the saints, 2,000 years worth of Tradition, tradition, prayer, education, catechesis, catechisms, theology, philosophy, and our families, friends, and neighbors. We lack nothing to eradicate evil from our midst.

Above all, God has given each and every one of us the most magnificent gift of free will. Nothing listed in the above sentence is worth a hill of floppy disks in a memory stick world, if we use our free wills to chase pleasure, wealth, fame, networks, friends, and other earthly treasures. And so we have proven. To end evil, we have to examine our own lives. Are we chasing goods, goods which are leading us away from the Good, God? Which goods are those? Why are we chasing them? How much sanctity have we lost by chasing these lesser goods? How much evil have we allowed through our actions and inactions? If we were to watch the ripples of our actions and inactions, how many people have we hurt? How much evil have we allowed?

Think about it. How many people are involved in the financing, production, distribution, marketing and viewing of one porn video? How many people are involved in making sure no legal or legislative entity looks too closely at the financing, production, distribution, marketing, and viewing of that one porn video? How much evil have you allowed and how many people have you hurt in that 3 minutes?

As Catholics, our desire to eradicate evil has to move beyond blaming, questioning, and waiting on God. We ourselves must act with and in the sacramental life of grace He has given us as baptized members of the Catholic Church.