Where Is Evil?

According to certain former leaders of the world (as well as some of the present), evil is always somewhere else.  They think they see it and they bomb the countries where they believe evil inhabits, and when given the chance, permit the execution of leaders of those countries who were not saints, but neither are they.  As a result, there are failed states such as Libya [1] and Iraq [2].  Without Russian intervention in Syria propping up Bashar al-Assad, Syria, too, would go the way of Libya and Iraq.

In the failed state of Libya, there are "bases in which militants who waged a deadly attack against Christians have been trained." [3]  On May 26, 2017, the Los Angeles Times reported the following, quoted in part [4]:

“Militants attacked a bus and a car — they shot them, 28 persons were killed at least,” including women and children, said Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a Cairo-based think tank.

A group of laborers and volunteers from a village in Minya had boarded a bus to St. Samuel Coptic Orthodox Monastery about a dozen miles away Friday at about 8 a.m. Two white SUVs stopped them, said Anba Aghason, the Coptic Christian bishop in the area.

Aghason recounted what survivors told him happened next.

Armed men emerged, faces covered, and asked the passengers, “Are you Christian?”

The passengers said yes.

The armed men then distributed a 10- to 15-page pamphlet of Koranic verses that explained fasting during Ramadan, the Muslim holiday that started Friday. Then the armed men told the group to recite the Shahada, the Muslim profession of faith.

“They refused, and said, ‘No, we were born Christian and will die Christian,’ ” the bishop said. “So they killed all the men. They killed some of the women, injured others and stole what they had.”

It is apparent that evil resides within the organization of ISIL.  Not as obvious is that evil also resides in countries that have given rise to ISIL, and most surely evil resides in those who might have once been innocent and idealistic who sold their souls to the Devil for power.  It ought to be well-known to all that evil begets evil.  Despite being on opposite sides, evil of every stripe speaks the common language of death and vengeance.

It also ought to be well-known that evil cannot be eliminated by might.  Evil merely metamorphosizes, perhaps even hibernate for a while before it inhabits other people in other places.

Who does evil inhabit?  The weak ones who have power but have souls devoid of the presence of God.  No leader will admit to the fact that he or she could be evil.  If this world were a fairy tale, every room in the halls of power would have a mirror on the wall that will answer to the question: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most evil of all?"  The reply ought to be the same for anyone who has ever ordered anyone to kill: "You."  This answer has to be correct because only evil will go against God's commandment not to kill.  In the words of Christ, quoted without paragraph number and footnotes [5]:

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’...

With killings taking place every so often somewhere in the world, evil, therefore, is very much alive, no matter how many deaths it seemed to have gone through over the centuries.

Those who think ISIL can be eliminated are naïve, and those who think that only other people are evil are blind to their own iniquities.

The Coptic Christians who were on their way to St. Samuel Coptic Orthodox Monastery on May 26, 2017, died for their faith in God and love for Christ.  In doing so, they ought to make all Christians stronger but in reality, they would soon be forgotten, just as many Coptic Christians who had died in Syria were nameless and forgotten.  These people were martyrs in the name of Christ and this pope does not even care to know their names and ask for their photographs, but this blogger is certain that Christ recognizes who they are individually and knows their names.

The massacred Coptic Christians might have thought that they were going to St. Samuel Coptic Orthodox Monastery, but it turned out that they were being called to another place.  That place, this blogger believes, is Heaven.  May they pray, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, for sinners (especially this blogger) who may still have many years to struggle through, years marked with internal weakness and wickedness as well as external conflicts, now and until their deaths, and pray also that they, the banished children of Eve, be shown the Blessed Fruit of the womb of the Virgin Mary after their exile.


[1] http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/20/libya-from-africas-wealthiest-democracy-under-gaddafi-to-terrorist-haven-after-us-intervention/
[2] http://www.alternet.org/world/iraq-failed-state
[3] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4544554/23-shot-dead-bus-carrying-Coptic-Christians-Egypt.html
[4] http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-egypt-christians-20170526-story.html
[5] http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5 at 21.