Would I be overgeneralizing to say that these past few weeks have seen more anticipation for the upcoming caucuses and primaries than for the celebration of the Nativity?
I doubt it.
I for one have had more posts on political and governmental issues during this liturgical season than posts reflecting upon the meaning of Advent or Christmas. I have a hunch that we'd be in a better position, politically and otherwise, if we had our material and spiritual priorities in order. I'll have to work on that myself, but later.
The political issue perhaps perceived as the most important in our political climate is the war on terror, specifically the fight against Jihadists terror, or as Sean Hannity would say, the confronting of evil in our time. It's not just Mr. Hannity who uses the terms of good and evil when framing the war on terror. It's pretty common, at least for those who use such terms.
This raises a question: can politics and government offer a sufficient response to the existence of evil in the world?
In some ways, sure. The State exists for the purpose of justice, and to this end government can be an effective tool for securing rights, protecting life, and restraining evil. The military might of the State seems sometimes to be the only effective means of arresting the plans of evil men and the spread of evil ideologies across the globe. However, when it comes to responding to evil itself, the political instruments of man are grossly inadequate. A war against an evil force may destroy the evil, but it achieves its ends by destroying the evildoer or restraining his capacity to commit acts of evil. What a war cannot achieve is the the redemption of the evildoer. Politics has its limitations; saving souls is not among its powers.
In a few days is a major celebration in the Christian communities: the Feast of the Nativity. Christmas. Christians celebrate at Christmas the birth of Jesus, that God became man, incarnated, bent low in humble love for his creation in order to bring creation, particularly those creatures made in his image and likeness, into communion with himself. Christ conquered sin and evil in the only way that is truly possible, that is truly sufficient, that is truly appropriate: through the power of Divine Life and Love. In this world, we know such power as the power of grace. It is not a power that is foreign to us. Indeed, to be Christian is to participate in this power of Divine Life and Love.
The Christian is called to fight evil in the world first and foremost by participating in God's plan of salvation. This is not to say that political responses to evil are invalid, but that political instruments cannot solve the problem of evil. They cannot convert, purify, restore, or save. Only grace has the power for such lofty goals.
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