By Fr. Glenn Jones:

We all witness the seemingly endless barrage of negativity in our day—rising crime, rising tensions, rising tempers. Much has been made of the incivility that has raised its omnipresent ugly head in both social and mainstream media outlets, not to mention with day-to-day interactions. Simply completing a sentence uninterrupted has become a frequent challenge in discussions; before you’re halfway through, someone barges in with a contradictory—or even barely relevant—point, sometimes just to deflect challenge to their own unsustainable or weakly-supported position. In worst case, it can devolve into personal baseless attacks and insults, and maybe even violence.

Unfortunately, one hardly need wonder whence come many of the “novel” ideas and problems of our modern times: people reflexively respond from immediate emotion rather than to discern carefully the effects of their proposals. Plus, the echo chamber which social media often reinforces virulent animosities and hatreds; one can search any subject on YouTube, Facebook, etc., and find plenty of people who are in agreement with almost any hostile position. But, as debaters and philosophers have long known, considering others’ opinions is essential to facilitate refinement of one’s own, and necessary in seeking truth and most effective routes to a goal. After all, there’s always those points which escape consideration, or are avoided even unconsciously due to personal bias or erroneous assumptions, else one may wallow in error, or even delusion.

Now, those who have studied philosophy remember that a basic and perennial question of humankind is “What is the good?” A quick answer is that the good is that which is beneficial, and the bad is what is harmful. Virtue, while often ridiculed, seeks the good, and is necessary for society’s survival, much less advancement. Where goodness and virtue are wanting, societies inevitably fall. And virtue and goodness—whether you are Christian or no—is anchored in the teachings of Jesus, echoed by many other sages of history: love of God (or of goodness, if you have yet come to believe in God), and love of neighbor. These seem principles which everyone could and would quickly grasp, and yet often elude even the most intelligent. Discarded by Jesus in these two simple concepts are notions of hatred, revenge, and rejection, teaching rather that love, forgiveness and acceptance are to be the rule. (Paul reminds us: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves…for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19) … “vengeance” having the meaning of the balancing of the scales of justice, not unequal retribution). In fact, one has difficulty imagining a world society which could ever exist in peace absent those beneficial—and therefore good—principles.

But, virtue entails the difficult, but certainly surmountable, hurdle of restraining immediate emotional reaction, consciously seeking the beneficial … to commit oneself to the service of reason and moderation rather than be enslaved under a yoke of unthinking passion. After all, it is the quality of the spiritual soul—reason—which makes us most divine-like, as Shakespeare realized: “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals.” (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2).

But to be good or evil lay squarely within our own will and choice. As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: “Do you want to be a saint? Then WILL it!”, and as we read: “If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice. He has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.” (Sirach 15:15-16) … for “His commandments [the obligations of goodness] are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3) And the Christian need always recall the young man who declared his heartfelt longing dedication to seek the good: “Jesus looking upon him, loved him…” (Mark 10:21) Is this not the same aching longing of every Christian?

One would think that the world would cheer those who hold to the good, yet we know well that is not necessarily the case, nor—as Jesus warns us—is it to be expected. He who taught goodness—IS goodness—was Himself persecuted, hated and crucified. As so many find, it is easy to proclaim a love of goodness and virtue, but much more difficulty to live it in the face of unceasing challenge—both external and internal. Thus, Jesus asks us daily as He asked His apostles: “Are you able to drink the chalice that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (Mark 10:38) Or, will we rather flee cowardly, preferring the approval of the world, forgetting: “…there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters, or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now…and persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life,” (Mark 10:29), and “…those who endure to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) For “…the first will be last, and the last will be first.” (Mark 10:31)

In the end, it is the role of the good—the very mission of discipleship—to be examples of virtue and righteousness, and thus be an island of hope in a world often devoid of these. How else, O Christian, will you draw others to Jesus and to the salvation which He offers to those who seek the good? Yes, it is a “swim upstream” … a constant struggle against the world’s current, and yet this is our promise … our oath. “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day…to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness…” (Ephesians 6:13-14), remembering:

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to observe your righteous ordinances.

…Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord,
and teach me your ordinances.
I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.

Your decrees are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.
I incline my heart to perform your statutes
forever, to the end.

(Psalm 119: 105)

Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.