12 April 2019
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
I recently attended some training for employees about how to respond to an active-shooter scenario. The instructions were to run or hide, when possible, but if that’s not possible, then the instructions are to fight.
A parallel can be drawn to the spiritual life, which is the life of the grace of Jesus Christ. In this sense, “run or hide” means to avoid the near occasions of sin. Since it is sin and sin alone that destroys the spiritual life, it must be avoided when possible. However, there are times when temptation seems to hem us in on all sides. In that case, there is no escape, so it becomes necessary to fight.
The twentieth chapter of Jeremiah, for example, illustrates such a fight. Jeremiah hears the whisperings of many people “terror on every side.” Even the those who used to be his friends were monitoring him, looking for any missteps, so that they could prevail against him and destroy him. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, so Jeremiah asked God himself to be his champion and to fight for him. Then Jeremiah prayed for his persecutors to “be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion,” and he asked God to “see the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause.”
We should not be disturbed if Jeremiah’s prayer strikes us as unchristian. This prayer can be used by Christians, as long as it is the spiritual life, which is the life of grace, which is seen as the truest, most important form of life. As regards that life, we must fight for it with tooth and nail. As regards merely biological life, whenever God should so ordain, we must surrender it like lambs led to the slaughter, in imitation of our blessed Lord and Savior. May he grant us his grace always.