The roots of evil and the remedies of the Christian life
At the heart of every evil that wounds the world, there are not only external injustices or social frailties, but a deeper root: the sin that dwells in the human heart. From Genesis onwards, Scripture helps us to recognise three great inner deviations: the disordered pursuit of pleasure, possessions, and power, which distance us from God and break down our relationship with ourselves, with others, and with the Creator. But the Gospel does not stop at diagnosing evil. In Christ, the victor over the temptations in the desert, the path to healing is also opened. Fasting, prayer, almsgiving, examination of conscience, and confession thus become concrete tools for conversion and Christian rebirth.
At the root of all the evils that afflict the world are the sins of humans. God created the world to be good; but with the sin of the first humans, evil entered human history. The first sin, which in its essence is disobedience to God, already manifests a threefold distortion of the human heart. This can be recognised by meditating on the Word of God, above all in the book of Genesis.
“The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom; she took some of its fruit and ate it, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Gen 3:6)
In this episode, three great inner deviations emerge, which continue to drag man away from God: the disordered pursuit of pleasure, the disordered pursuit of having, and the disordered pursuit of power or self-sufficiency.
These three roots distort man in his depths:
– The concupiscence of the flesh (the desire for bodily goods) distorts the relationship with pleasure and wounds, first and foremost, ourselves;
– The concupiscence of the eyes (the fascination with what the world offers) distorts the relationship with goods, with possession, and with what attracts and seduces, also damaging the relationship with others;
– The pride of life (pride, self-sufficiency) distorts, above all, the relationship with God, because it pushes man to reject filial dependence on the Creator.
Sacred Scripture highlights these roots of evil in many ways. Recognising them is important, because only by knowing the illness can one seek the remedy. Some other biblical passages help to understand this.
1. “When you have eaten and are satisfied, when you have built fine houses and settled down, when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, you then become haughty of heart and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Dt 8:12-14)
2. “Achan replied to Joshua, ‘It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” (Josh 7:20-21)
3. “Lord, Father and God of my life, do not give me haughty eyes, and remove from me all evil desire. Let not the lusts of the flesh and lewdness take hold of me, and do not abandon me to a shameless soul.” (Sir 23:4-6)
4. “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21)
5. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:15-16)
Jesus conquered where Adam had yielded
The sin of disobedience of the first humans was repaired by the obedience of Jesus Christ. He chose to face the same temptations in the desert also to teach us how to overcome them. And He conquered, obeying the Word of God transmitted by Scripture, relying on the truth of God, responding to the tempter only with the Word of God, showing that no temptation can be overcome without faith, without obedience, and without relying on the truth of God.
This mystery is so important that it is narrated by all three Synoptic Gospels (Matt 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13) and takes place after forty days of solitary fasting in the desert, a detail that is far from negligible.
Against the concupiscence of the flesh (Mt 4:4)
Temptation: “Tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus’ reply: “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’.” (Dt 8:3)
Against the pride of life (Mt 4:7)
Temptation: “Throw yourself down.”
Jesus’ reply: “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’.” (Dt 6:16)
Against the concupiscence of the eyes (Mt 4:10)
Temptation: “All this I will give you, all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.”
Jesus’ reply: “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’.” (Dt 6:13)
The remedies indicated by Christian Tradition
To heal these three roots of disorder, Christian Tradition has always indicated three fundamental practices of penance: fasting (against the concupiscence of the flesh), prayer (against the pride of life), and almsgiving (against the concupiscence of the eyes). The Catechism of the Catholic Church also reminds us of this:
“The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and various ways. Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others.” (CCC 1434)
For those who are called to a special path of evangelical perfection, the Tradition of the Church also indicates the three evangelical counsels, lived in the religious vows, as specific remedies against these roots of evil:
– poverty, against the concupiscence of the eyes (the desire to have);
– chastity, against the concupiscence of the flesh (the desire for pleasure);
– obedience, against the pride of life (the desire for power).
In this sense, the religious life appears as a particularly intense imitation of Christ, oriented towards healing the very root of sin.
From the three concupiscences to the seven deadly sins
From these three roots emerge the seven deadly sins, and from these seven, all other moral disorders then develop. Pride, avarice, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth are not autonomous and disconnected evils. They are the fruit of a ground already corrupted by the three original concupiscences, a development of the three matrices of inner disorder.
1. The concupiscence of the flesh
The concupiscence of the flesh is the disorder of one who seeks good above all in sensual pleasure, in immediate gratification, and in bodily satisfaction. From it derive in particular:
– gluttony: the disordered pursuit of eating, drinking, and material satisfaction;
– lust: the disordered pursuit of sexual pleasure;
– sloth: not simply laziness, but sadness or torpor in the face of spiritual good; it often develops in a soul weighed down by comfort, well-being, and the avoidance of inner effort.
2. Concupiscence of the eyes
The concupiscence of the eyes concerns not only seeing, but desiring what appears, letting oneself be seduced by things, by possession, and by accumulation. From it derive in particular:
– avarice: the disordered desire to possess, hold on to, and accumulate riches;
– envy: at least in part: man, not only desires what he sees, but suffers because of the good he sees in another; envy is, in a sense, a concupiscence of the eyes that has become a comparison: not only “I want what I see,” but “I cannot bear the good I see in another.”
3. Pride of life
The pride of life is the deepest root. It does not concern things first and foremost, but one’s own self, which wants to assert itself against God and against others, to be self-sufficient, to excel, and to impose itself. From it derive in particular:
– pride: the explicit and direct form of self-exaltation;
– wrath: often born from a wounded, contradicted, humiliated, or thwarted ego;
– envy: once again, at least in part: not only as a desire for possession, but also as suffering, because the good of another humiliates the proud person.
Of these three roots of evil, the most dangerous is the pride of life, because it is a purely spiritual sin and, for this very reason, is the most difficult to recognise and to heal. The Church Fathers warned that even many good works, if motivated by pride, can lead to ruin; whereas even a life marked by many falls, if accompanied by sincere humility and repentance, can open the way to Paradise. “A chariot of good works, but pulled by pride, leads to hell, while a chariot of sins, but driven by humility, arrives in Paradise.”.
The need to know evil in order to resist it
Knowing the deadly sins and learning to identify them in ourselves is essential for the spiritual journey. Only what is clearly known can be truly fought. Otherwise, one risks remaining in a vague inner confusion, or tormenting oneself with generic feelings of guilt, without coming to recognise and confront the concrete vices that dominate us.
However, it is not enough to know evil. It is also necessary to ask God for forgiveness and to repair, as far as possible, the evil done. For this, sacramental confession is necessary.
After all, this is what also happens in human relationships. If we have stolen, it is not enough to say, “I’m sorry,” but we must also return what was stolen, we must make amends. If we have offended someone, it is not enough to inwardly acknowledge our mistake, but we must also ask for forgiveness and, when necessary, make amends.
The examination of conscience as the beginning of conversion
One of the most important means to seriously begin the path of conversion is the examination of conscience. It consists in knowing the ways in which we can offend God, our neighbour, and ourselves, and in sincerely recognising those of which we are truly guilty.
To this end, we propose below a brief reminder of the necessary dispositions for a good sacramental confession and some outlines for an examination of conscience from different perspectives: according to the ten commandments, according to the deadly sins, according to the theological and cardinal virtues, according to the duties towards God, towards our neighbour, and towards ourselves, and also from other useful angles.