By Chris Sparks
The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is — trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1578).
The cure for conspiracy theories is “Jesus, I trust in You!”
Now, before I go any further, let me make a few key acknowledgments:
- Yes, the devil and his forces are real, and yes, they are arrayed against the Church and all that is good.
- No, I am not denying the existence of the spiritual combat or of people who have allied themselves with the enemy.
- No, not all conspiracy theories are false. Anyone who believed that the Communists wanted to take over Russia in 1917 were proven right; Lincoln was killed by conspirators; conspiracies have existed and do exist today, criminal or otherwise.
But the habit of conspiracy theorizing, of assuming a secret “real history” of the world known only to those who pick apart all the puzzle pieces or to the initiates, is akin to heresy and in the same realm as Gnosticism, not Christianity. And it’s a habit of mind that loses sight of some crucial, fundamental truths of the faith. For instance:
- God is God, and we are not. No set of creatures is capable of overpowering God strength for strength. Therefore, no conspiracy of creatures could possibly be an actual threat (in the long run, at least) to all that is good in the world, for God is Goodness Itself.
- God is all-knowing. Therefore, there is no conspiracy, no secret plan or diabolical design that the side of the angels doesn’t already know about. Doing “anything in the name of” unraveling the workings of the forces of hell isn’t a help to Christ or His Church.
- The meaning of life is love, not combat. The war between Heaven and hell took place after creation and was not the point of creation. The point of creation was the existence of persons to love and be loved in return. The story of God’s work in the world is one of love — a romance, not a war novel. Because it is a romance, therefore the Bride is at war with the enemies of the Bridegroom. But even if the war had never happened, the story of the Bridegroom and the Bride would have unfolded.
- God is all powerful. Goodness, therefore, can’t ultimately be defeated, and so there is never a justification of doing evil so that good may come of it. We don’t have to take the Ring of Power in order to defend Gondor, as Boromir tried to do in the classic fantasy epic Lord of the Rings.
All of this is summed up in the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, which we celebrated on Nov. 21, at the close of the liturgical year. Jesus is Lord. Christ is King. The devil may rage; the wealthy may grasp at their riches; the powerful may send forth their forces; the world, the flesh, and hell may do their worst.
But Jesus Christ is Lord of Heaven and Earth, and there is nothing they can do about it.
O my Jesus, because of my trust in You,
I weave thousands of garlands, and I know
That they will all blossom.
And I know that they will all blossom
When God’s sun will shine on them.O great and Divine Sacrament
That veils my God!
Jesus, be with me each moment,
And no fear will enter my heart (Diary, 4).
It’s not easy to always maintain an attitude of perfect trust. There’s so much evil in the world today, so much pain and suffering, so many things that are so wrong. Evil and injustice provoke us to anger and to action, and that’s right. We are told in the Beatitudes that those who mourn are blessed; those who are not happy with the ways of the world have the right of it. We are not now in Heaven here below; we are not in a perfectly just society, or in a rightly ordered world. All of us are touched by the consequences of sin, one way or another.
The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart … even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
We endure concupiscence, or the inclination to evil and sin, in our very selves, after all, and even the sinless, stainless Jesus and Mary suffered as a result of the sins of others. So it can be a strong temptation to treat evil as being all powerful, as being the true governing body of the cosmos.
But the Solemnity of Christ the King repeats every year that such a temptation is precisely that — a temptation, a lie and a trick from hell. As the classic hymn reminds us, “Since Love is Lord of Heaven and Earth, how can I keep from singing?” The Divine Mercy Image summons us out of our fears, out of our conspiracy theories and into confidence in the Lord.
“Jesus, I trust in You!” This is meant to be our motto, our prayer, our constant refrain.
“Jesus, I trust in You!” And so we take it on faith and come to know through experience that no earthly power or corruption from hell is more powerful than the Divine Mercy.
“Jesus, I trust in You!” And so we can be not afraid, as St. John Paul II, the Great Mercy Pope, taught us from the inauguration of his pontificate. We can have courage; we can take heart. We can keep on in the face of every enemy of Christ and His Church, because no matter what persecution or execution that the world, the flesh, or the devil may visit upon the Church, the Lord has led the way through death and into life everlasting.
J. M. J. [Jesus, Mary, and Joseph]
God and souls
King of Mercy, guide my soul (Diary, 3).
Let us practice our Catholic faith in these times of fear, scandal, rumors, and conspiracy theories. Let us turn to the sound sources of teaching, to Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium; to the popes, saints, and Doctors of the Church; to orthodox and learned theologians. Let us take up prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, especially as we set out into Advent, in order to love God and neighbor, overcome every evil, win every heart for Christ, and speed the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
Be not afraid — Jesus is Lord! How can I keep from singing?
Pray for me that I may practice what I preach. I’ll pray for you.
Chris Sparks serves as senior book editor for the Marian Fathers. He is the author of the Marian Press book How Can You Still Be Catholic? 50 Answers to a Good Question.
Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash
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