As October rolls in and we start the journey out of Summer and into the Fall, we begin to see, locally anyway, the signs of the approach of Hallowe’en. It is a distinctive and sometimes incongruous holiday for the Catholic. However, it may be a source of an interesting reflection.
Here in New England, we have an association with three major horror writers:
Edgar Allan Poe born in Boston.
Stephen King the literary face of Maine.
Finally, Rhode Island’s Howard Philip (H.P.) Lovecraft. Two of his stories make for a good reflection for us this season.
Lovecraft’s stories take place all over Southern New England. In fact, the Dunwich Horror features family names that are towns along the route I-91 corridor north of Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Coincidentally, his story takes place around the same time as another New England based though non-horror story — Our Town by Thornton Wilder, which reflects on life and death more than good and evil. It takes place in Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire which is the actual town of Peterborough and only an hour from the I-91 corridor.
What makes Lovecraft interesting for our reflection is that he was an atheist, but he also understood that if good can exist in our world, then evil can as well. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Dunwich Horror both deal with the presence of evil and the dangers of not respecting its reality by foolishly crossing the boundary into it.
His writing reflects a pagan point of view of evil as a reality beyond us and outside our understanding. We need to accept this and leave it alone, he indicates. It is this reason why I wonder if he might be a good choice to teach the dangers of evil in our own world such as drug abuse.
Our Christian faith teaches us the truth about good and evil, something that Lovecraft’s writing does not grasp. He understood their existence, but not their nature. We need to understand both, even if we are not conversant in the secular horror media or even the Christian horror from Frank Peretti that also will proliferate until November 1.
Some who will celebrate Hallowe’en will understand that evil exists but comprehend little else of its nature.
The source of all that is good is our creator. We know that St Augustine taught that evil is the privation of the good. This means that when we walk away from God, we can only walk to where God is not. If God is the source of all that is good, then we walk away to where it does not exist. That means where evil thrives for again it is the privation of the good.
Jesus was a master in explaining good and evil in the terms of light and darkness. If God is the source of light and we walk away from God, we can only walk into darkness.
I love the NASA picture of Saturn because, according to NASA, despite being a planet so big — its year is twenty seven times longer than our own — the physics of light still apply. The far side of Saturn is as much in darkness as the far side of a baseball placed in front of a flashlight outside at night.
Similarly, we understand if God is the source of all that is good, then we end up in the world of what is not good if we walk away from Him into the shadows. This is the reality of sin.
Many of our communities both in and out of the church may understand the existence of evil, but not the source or reality of it. Some might not believe in it at all. However, as much of an atheist he was, H.P. Lovecraft understood the existence of it but he saw it as natural force that one encountered crossing boundaries that should be respected and never transversed.
In fact, if there is one question one learns to ask after reading Lovecraft it is: “Should we walk down this path?” — when confronted with a direction that may reveal a need for discernment. That is because his message was that we have the freedom to do anything we want, but in our freedom we best choose to avoid those things that just should not be done.
Using that principle, we teach that we express our freedom best when we only do that which leads us to the goodness of God.
Jesus teaches the why of that principle: Since, evil comes from rejecting the will of God who is the source of all that is good. Obedience to God, therefore, is so essential for when we obey Him we obey the source of all that is good. We can only walk into a world of more and more good if we adhere to his leadership.
Psalm 23 reflects this well when it says:
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me (Psalm 23 NABRE)
Where are we? In the valley of the shadow of death. If we walk away from God, where do we go? Deeper into the valley of the shadow of death, where there obviously is no life and it must get more and more hostile to existence. How do we find life? By remaining on the path following Christ through the valley of death, no matter how difficult the route may be.
During Hallowe’en, the subject of Hell becomes endemic to the world around us, including our readings. In the classic movie, Event Horizon, (Rated R) we see an illustration of this principle of evil (beware a spoiler may be coming). If we choose to leave the world of order and make a shortcut through a place where there is nothing but chaos, even in the interest of expediency and progress, we may actually enter into Hell. There is no order, there is no good, there is no light to be found if we walk away from the source of all those things which is God. As the movie obliquely illustrates — if we choose to reject the existence of evil and look at reality just from a material perspective, we may walk right into Hell accidentally.
Jesus came to save us from the elements in our universe that are beyond our understanding. Without Jesus, we become subject to all in the universe that belongs to the realm of what rejects God. He came to lead us away from that disaster and into the holiness of the source of all that is good who is God in the Holy Trinity.
We testify to the existence of this truth and to the saving work of our Lord. He calls us to embrace Him so that we may lead those to whom we minister from the forces of chaos, darkness and the privation of good. We testify to Christ leading us through the valley of death to the fullness of life in God’s kingdom.
We cannot, however, find it on our own. We must listen to He who came to lead us. If we choose to find the place on our own, we will walk accidentally into that world of chaos because we are walking in the darkness of ignorance.
If we do not believe in evil at all, we are walking both blindly and in darkness and every move we make is at best a guess.
Hallowe’en may be a good time to reflect and teach on the reality of good and evil and all that Christ has done for us in bringing us to freedom. Our heritage is filled with people who understand the existence of darkness, but our Catholic faith understands its nature.
Presently, we are living in a country where people are rejecting Christ and His Church in the interesting of the fullness of human progress. Evil grows in this environment because people do not know how to respect its reality or the route to safety. This may indicate why there is so much division in our country. This is why the writings of some horror writers are important. They warn of the reality of evil.
Many may find themselves in a dark place by their own choice. Our ministry is to do all we can to lead them away from that disturbing end and into the joy of the Holy Trinity, the source of all that is good.
Photo: Nick Coleman
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