“Jesus did not teach us that it’s okay to hurt someone if they are not the same as us. Jesus did not teach us that it’s okay to mistreat someone because you do not agree with their politics, religion, or skin color. That gentlemen, is the evil spirit at work in us, trying to highlight that we are not all God’s creation.” – Mr. Earsing
At the beginning of each school year, President Earsing delivers a prayer service that traditionally follows Principal Garrison’s. This year’s President Prayer Service was no different, however, only Seniors were able to attend in person. Even though the rest of the student body attended the service online, Mr. Earsing’s message about the fight between good and evil was equally impactful for everybody.
Summary
Mr. Earsing opened by discussing two topics that were addressed the reading from Matthew’s Gospel: awareness, and call to action. He emphasized that while it may sound easy to be aware of a problem and to do something about it, the evil spirit hinders our ability to carry out this process.
Mr. Earsing then brought up a story about how he used to hang out with friends in their neighborhood. He talked about how some of their ideas to have fun were perhaps not the safest, and how he and his friends loved to be chased when they got in trouble. One day he heard that if he called a girl “marble mouth,” that she would chase him, so he did it all the time. However, when his grandfather found out about this, he explained that the girl probably suffered a speech impediment, so calling her marble mouth hurt her feelings. This struck awareness in him, as he had been bullying her this entire time without realizing it. With his newfound awareness, his call to action came into play, as he ended up apologizing to her and greeted her by her real name from there on out.Â
When awareness is obtained, “choosing to continually hurt someone is evil. Anything that divides us, anything that causes us to not love each other like Jesus is calling us to do, is the evil spirit at work.”Â
Theme
Ultimately, Mr. Earsing is challenging us to recognize when the “evil spirit” is influencing us in our daily lives. “Ignatius warned us that it would be a challenge of humans to discern what spirit, good or evil, is working at us in our actions.”
He additionally brought forth the question “can we disagree with each other and love each other?” He pointed out that treating other people with respect and seeing others as “fellow human beings, created by God,” is especially rare in today’s society. “I believe this is so hard for us, because evil is always at work on us, rationalizing, perverting, and twisting our actions. Trying to separate us from what God wants us to do.” He went on to explain that Jesus never said it’s okay to treat people differently because of their “politics, religion, or skin color.” That is the work of the evil spirit in us, trying to make it seem as if we are not “all God’s creation.” The truth is, “we are all the same in the eyes of God, and we need to always remember that.”
Finally, he pointed out that despite the gloomy topics covered in this prayer service, it is not supposed to be negative. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. He concluded that even with all the evil in our society, “Men for Others can make a positive difference in the world, especially [when they have] awareness.”
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