Jesus said, “When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first.”

The storyline of a superhero's life is made possible by the villains he/she faces. The movie "Spider-man 2" gives Spider-man a villain that is as interesting as he is formidable.  Dr. Otto Octavius is a brilliant, gentle scientist with a wonderful disposition. As he works with dangerous materials, he devises four powerful tentacles that are fused to his spine and have a cyber-intelligence of their own; a chip at the top of his spine prevents them from overriding his orders, but when the chip is destroyed, the brilliant kind scientist is transformed into Doc Ock, a fusion of man and machine. What must be of interest to the Christian viewer of the movie is a fact of human nature: people can become evil no matter how brilliant and dedicated they are. The powerful or humble, the rich or the poor, the brilliant or the ordinary are all possible Christians, but they are human beings first, and those human beings can choose evil instead of good. Christians must always be on guard because evil will take over anything it can.  

It has been said that the first act of doing something morally wrong may be very difficult, but that each subsequent evil act is easier. Psychologically, the explanation probably lies in that doing something morally wrong will always bother a person’s conscience. And since each act that follows will be easier on the conscience, we will offer less resistance.

In the language of Scripture, Jesus describes evil in terms of a wicked spirit occupying a person. "Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there." That is, evil begets evil. Jesus was warning his disciples never to allow their guard to drop, nor to make the first step toward evil.

People who study the movie “Spider-man 2" can learn something about themselves. They will never commit the atrocities that Doc Ock commits, but they have occasion to commit a significant amount of evil in their own circles of activity. The lesson of the movie is a very straightforward one. It was the lesson of Jesus as he studied the evil in his world, an evil not too different from ours: we cannot allow ourselves to begin to think in terms of evil, nor can we begin to act on it. If we do, it becomes even more difficult to stop. Evil is difficult at first; it is much easier as we involve ourselves in more of it.

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, your Son reminded us that evil is at work in our world, and that we have to be more aware of it. Help us recognize any evil that we might be involved in, and give us the grace to accept the principles of your Son to guide us. Be with us, we pray.

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America