Struggles without, fears within

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On Monday of the Twentieth week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah (3:1-15) entitled “The prophet rebukes Jerusalem”. Our treasure, which follows, is from the Moral Reflections on Job by Saint Gregory the Great, bishop.

Doctor of the Church; born at Rome about 540; died 12 March 604. Saint Gregory is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the Catholic Church. To him we must look for an explanation of the religious situation of the Middle Ages; indeed, if no account were taken of his work, the evolution of the form of medieval Christianity would be almost inexplicable. And further, in so far as the modern Catholic system is a legitimate development of medieval Catholicism, of this too Gregory may not unreasonably be termed the Father. Almost all the leading principles of the later Catholicism are found at any rate in germ, in Gregory the Great.

The Moral Reflections on Job is a commentary on the Book of Job by Saint Gregory the Great, written between 578 and 595. It began when Saint Gregory was at the court of Emperor Tiberius II in Constantinople but finished only several years after he had returned to Rome. It is Saint Gregory's major work, filling some 35 books or 6 volumes.

If everything God created was good, why does Isaiah say God created evil? The Hebrew word translated as “evil” in Isaiah 45:7 has two applications in the Bible. The term can be used in the sense of moral evil, such as wickedness and sin, or it can refer to harmful natural events, calamity, misfortune, adversity, affliction, or disaster. It is in this second sense that Isaiah speaks, and his meaning is reflected in most modern Bible translations of Isaiah 45:7: “I make success and create disaster”; “I make well-being and create calamity”; “I send good times and bad times”. God does not create moral evil. For one thing, moral evil is not a “thing” to be made but a choice or intent contrary to God’s good purposes, His holy character, and His law. Moral evil does not conform to God and His will. God is good, holy, and loving; therefore, His plans and purposes are good, holy, and loving.

As Ruler of the universe, God sometimes creates calamity to accomplish His will. He brought disaster to discipline His people when they turned their backs on Him and refused to repent.