DO EVILDOERS REALLY PROSPER?
(From a sermon of St Augustine)
'CHRISTIAN people can become very upset to see how happy evil people are: what an abundance of worldly possessions they have; how healthy they are; how weighed down with honours; how secure their home is; how well-thought of by their clients they are; how far-reaching is their power; how nothing sad seems to blight their lives. The more evil the morals, the more conspicuous the success.
'In your heart you may be tempted to think that there is no Divine Justice; that all things happen fortuitously, by chance.
"How could it be otherwise," you may think. "If God truly cared for human beings, would the innocent suffer, and iniquity be rewarded?"'Now, for every soul-sickness there is a medicine in the Scriptures. And anyone who is so ill as to think these kinds of things in his heart should take a sip from Psalm 36.'
"What are you talking about?" you ask.'Well, I'm talking about what you were saying.'
"Haven't I been saying what you can plainly see for yourself? Wrongdoers prosper, and those who do good, suffer."'To find out what God thinks, take this verse, and drink from it. He has prepared this potion especially for you, to cure you of the illness that is troubling you. Only, don't refuse the healthgiving medicine. Let the mouth of your heart be touched through your ears; and take a deep draught from what you hear:
"Do not strive to emulate evildoers;
Do not copy those who do wrong
For like grass they will soon wither;
they will fade like the green of Spring."'What may seem long to you, is short for God. The more tightly you cling to God, the shorter it will seem to you, too.'
- St Augustine of Hippo, 350-430, in Ps xxxvi, I, 3
Translated by Paul Stenhouse, MSC
From "Annals Australia" September 1995
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