Homily

I was watching a fictional British tv show about a law firm and the attorneys and their clients, both inside and outside of court. One of the main characters is a smart, beautiful woman who never loses a case. She defends her clients with total dedication and complete belief in their innocence. At one point she runs into a lawyer from another law firm and he’s trying to get into a Catholic church but the door is locked. “Do you talk to Him up there?” she asks as she points to the sky. “The words go up” he answers. “And what about you?” She says, “I don’t believe in God. I don’t even like Him. He’s jealous, self-obsessed, cruel.” “Then what do you believe in?” “Human decency” she says.

Now this is a criminal lawyer who believes in human decency! She is in court all the time listening to all sorts of crimes, felonies, murders and the damages that are suffered by people at the hands of other people, committed by her clients, or if not by her clients then certainly by other human beings. Human decency? Of course, I am not saying that there are no decent human beings who live and treat others decently. There are many such people in the world. But a criminal lawyer believes in human decency? Seems like a very shaky foundation for faith.

I wonder if she would believe in the human decency of King Herod. The slaughter of the innocents is one example people sometimes use to attack the Christian faith. They say, “How is it that your God can allow the killing of these innocent children?” “Well, God did not kill those children. King Herod did.” “Yes, but God allowed it to happen.” “Well, it was King Herod who did it.” “How can you believe in a God who permits such evil?” All I can say is “King Herod.” I never understand this way of thinking. All of a sudden, the murderer is not the man who orders the killings, instead, somehow, it is God. What? In the minds of some people a genuine God does not allow people to exercise free will but instead the Lord should step in and prevent them from doing evil. Hmmm. Maybe God should have given King Herod a heart attack before he could issue his evil command to kill those children.

Okay, how about every time you’re going to lie to your boss or to your mom, God makes your tongue swell up for five minutes, so you can’t tell the lie. Evil is avoided. God is at work. You might not like it, but your boss or your mom would probably approve.

You’re going to shoplift some jewelry from a store but just as you reach for the bracelet your hands go limp and the Lord forces you to yell our loud, “I am a thief. Someone please stop me.” Evil avoided. God is at work.

The problem of evil in the world, the free will for human beings and an all-loving God all involve a certain amount of serious mystery, and one we cannot fully understand or comprehend. But let’s not allow ourselves to be moved by what I see as superficial, emotional arguments that want to blame God for the actions of people. That slaughter in Bethlehem was surely a great and horrible tragedy, just as the slaughter of millions of unborn children is a tragedy today right in front of our eyes. We use our free will and our prayers to do what we can to stop these modern murders, these murders that no enemy of the Faith will use in order to claim there is no God. Tell me how many atheists will claim that the fact that so many abortions take place in our country every day is a proof that our God is, as the tv lawyer says, cruel?

She can’t believe in a God who is “jealous, self-obsessed and cruel.” Just where is this God she doesn’t believe in? Is it God the Father, Who sent His only-begotten Son to us in order to save us? Is it God the Son, who suffered the lowliness of becoming a human being and wrapped in swaddling clothes? Is it this same Son Who came to ultimately suffer and die for us? Is it God the Holy Spirit she doesn’t like, Who has inspired countless men and women to work for the good of humanity, for the poor, the sick, the uneducated and people in need in every kind of way?

Hospitals and orphanages did not even exist before God’s people invented them based on the foundation of Christian charity. The English common law, which forms the main body of laws that the lady lawyer works with, day after day, is thoroughly based on Christian principles. She went to a university to learn that law. Universities were inventions of the Church, although I bet she never learned that at her university.

Many times, atheists will claim they don’t believe in God, as this tv lawyer does, but the God they don’t believe in is a God that we don’t believe in either. Rather than actually arguing against God as the Church understands Him, so often they argue against a God that they have made up in their own minds and present it as though it is our faith. And their made-up version of God is never a nice one.

We are not out there arguing with atheists every day, but I think it is important that we are aware and pay attention to times when atheism is presented to us in positive ways in our entertainment, as it does with the lawyer in the tv show I am talking about. Her character is written so that she is the Mother Teresa of lawyers, except for that God part. She is totally caring for all her clients, very brilliant and never loses a case. And the lawyer I mentioned who wanted to get into the church is specifically identified as Catholic, and he is the corrupt attorney who works for the worst of criminals. Ha! What a surprise.

Still, even if we are not often in this situation, if someone asks us why we believe in God, what shall we say to them? In 1st Peter, chapter 3, verses 15-16 we are told: “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence…”