He’s Already Won

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, with the serpent beneath her feet

One way the late, great Rene Girard described Jesus’ great victory was in terms of forcing the world to see the innocence of the scapegoats we so often make of others.  This message was not readily accepted, and even for Christians it has taken many years to be absorbed. Mr. Girard passed away last year, about a week before the Paris attacks, and perhaps it was a mercy he died then. Or perhaps he was a mini-Katechon of sorts, and for the sake of one very good Frenchman, some portion of evil was held back?

But despite all the attacks of the last year or so in Europe, there has not been a single instance of significant retaliation. While that may change, this would probably seem unthinkable to the Europeans of a few hundred years ago, where ethnic and religious pogroms were the norm. And there have been almost no retaliatory attacks in the U.S. despite 9/11 and the more recent incidents.

And these are in cultures where Christian faith is in decline. So even the atheists and agnostics of Europe and the U.S. have been converted to this norm. Do they even know why they believe scapegoating is wrong?

All that remains is for the Lord’s enemies to be humbled and made a footstool.  Mary is building this footstool from the bones of the serpent that she crushes. We must endure the thrashing of its dying body.

Bishop Fulton Sheen once wrote that Mary would play a particularly important role in converting the Islamic world. While we are tempted to wrath after what happened in a small corner of Normandy today, let us pray to her that she will open the hearts of the Muslim world to her Son.