Tuesday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
(Wisdom 2:23-3:9; Luke 17:7-10)
Twenty years ago defenders of the faith were answering the
criticisms of the so-called “New Atheists.”
They had to dispel charges that religion is superstition and that if
there were a God, he could not be good with all the evil found in the
world. The defense had a huge base from which
to respond. There may have been a new
generation of atheists, but their critiques have been proposed and answered
from nearly the origin of humanity.
The Book of Wisdom proposes answers to the atheists of
twenty-two hundred years ago. Today’s reading
responds to the unbeliever’s charge that death ends a life. It proclaims that for those who believe death
is only the end of bodily existence.
Their spirits live on to become part of the dynamic of good with which God
moves the world.
We can acquaint ourselves with the arguments proposed by the
new atheists without being overpowered by them.
We should read faith’s defenders like C.S. Lewis or Bishop Robert Barron
who counter the criticisms with powerful arguments. Even more importantly, we need to contemplate
Jesus in the gospels. There he is so wondrously
presented by the evangelists that our fears and doubts are quieted.
