Bitter Zeal: A Temptation for All of Us!

Yesterday's Mass homily focused on sins of the tongue. St. James in his epistle has plenty to say about that, comparing the tongue to the rudder of a mighty ship. The rudder may be small, but bears a large impact on the ship's movement and position. So does the tongue which may very well be responsible for more sins than any other organ in the body. 

One of the points Father made, was that zealous Catholics carry no immunity against sins like slander, calumny, rash judgment, and lack of charity. He warned against a "bitter zeal" that can lead Catholics to serve the devil's ends, especially with sins against charity.

Bitter zeal!

Evil abounds in our world and how easy it is to see every conflict as black and white, demons on one side and angels on the other. When we examine a single sin, an atrocity, like a brutal physical murder or the spiritual murder of an innocent child in, for example, sex trafficking, one can make a strong case against the individual perpetrator. But in larger societal sins, there's a grievous temptation to demonize whole populations. THEY are all guilty as a group. There is no person of good will among them!

Let's take a few examples. Ireland was the first nation on the planet where the citizens of the country freely chose the murder of little ones waiting to be born. They voted for it. Should we declare the country of Ireland deserving of a nuclear bomb because the majority of her citizens voted to murder babies? I've read comments advocating exactly that for the people of the state of Palestine, especially those in the Gaza territory. "Wipe it off the face of the earth!" some say. "They deserve what they get." Hey, they voted for the bad guys. Nuke 'em with the Sodom and Gomorrah treatment! It's easy to forget that GOD, not man, wiped out the sinful cities.

We've seen an ocean of bitter zeal over the Ukraine/Russia conflict and now over the Palestine/Israel conflict. Demonizing the side we disagree with is easy to do. Charity toward our enemies? You must be kidding! They are Nazis, fascists, Communists, Marxists, blood-suckers, etc.

In choosing sides, even if we choose the right one in God's eyes, we easily fall into the abyss of bitter zeal while we pat ourselves on the back for our own personal righteousness.

Is that what the saints did?

St. Isaac Jogues had to get special permission to say the Mass after his hands were disfigured by Mohawk torture. What did he do after his return to France? He begged to go back to the New World and continue his work among his torturers. And there he was martyred.

The list of Jesuit martyrs includes missionaries to almost every corner of the globe. How did they respond to torture and death? With prayers, exhortation, and blessing for their killers. 

St. Thomas More died "the king's good servant, but God's first."

It is one thing to criticize and condemn an ideology. Marxism, Naziism, feminism, transgenderism, etc. are all evil ideologies and fair game for criticism. Are there people of good will who embrace them out of ignorance rather than malice? No doubt, but the ideologies are evil in themselves and need to be exposed for what they are -- instruments of Satan. Then the work begins to draw people to see what they are and reject them. That's what St. Dominic, St. Athanasius, St. Edmund Campion, etc. all did as they worked zealously against heresies of their day. They wanted the conversion, not the destruction, of souls. Bernard Nathanson helped enshrine abortion in America through lies and manipulation. All heaven rejoiced when he repented and became an apostle for life.

It is a far cry from condemning an ideology to demonizing an entire country or an entire ethnic group for whatever reason we think justifies it. I will not jump on the Palestine is evil bandwagon or the Israel is evil bandwagon. The conflict in the Middle East is complicated and centuries old. The policies and decisions are made by governments which may or may not represent the people. Study history. Governments never represent all the people. Not everyone in Germany was a Nazi and the draconian treatment of the country after World War I planted the poisonous seeds harvested in World War II.

The just war theory teaches that non-combatants may not be targets in a war. There is no exception. Those who say that everyone in the enemy country is making war and hence a legitimate target are wrong. To level entire cities like we did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki is evil. The world wars saw many crimes against humanity committed by both sides. Unfortunately, we are all implicated in the societal sins of our governments. While we're finger pointing at others, we would do well to remember that. 

I try not to use inflammatory language when I write about controversial topics. It's important to remember the goal. For Catholics, it's always about the salvation of souls. Do we encourage conversions by demonizing others?  The challenge is to see those engaging in sinful behavior, not as enemies, but as the lost sheep. You know...the ones Jesus left the ninety-nine to pursue. 

Only someone who loves another person can have an impact on him and help bring about a change, a conversion. That's not to say we shouldn't hold people accountable. Tough love is sometimes the rough instrument that begins the change just as the surgeon's knife is often the beginning of healing. 

But bitter zeal never changes anyone. Inflammatory and loaded language alienates. Pope Pius X put it well when he wrote in his Encyclical, E Supremi:

...it is vain to hope to attract souls to God by a bitter zeal. On the contrary, harm is done more often than good by taunting men harshly with their faults, and reproving their vices with asperity. True the Apostle exhorted Timothy: "Accuse, beseech, rebuke," but he took care to add: "with all patience" (II. Tim.iv., 2).

May we all use our tongues to spread charity, a virtue too lacking in the world today.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.