Neither the French nor the Russian revolution was beneficial to the people.  While the French revolution provided some benefit, it also established a reign of terror in which many people were killed and provided a platform for Napoleon and the Napoleonic wars. The Russian revolution provided little or nothing for the Russian people.  Terror, especially under Stalin, was the name of the game.

But, the Christian revolution established on earth the beginnings of the Kingdom of God to be consummated in the future with the return of Christ.  It is true that people have used the Church for their own evil designs (see the story of the Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov by Feodor Dostoevsky), but their actions have not been according to the will of Christ and will be judged at the end of time.

Christ’s will is clearly expressed in the New Testament.  His message is one of peace; reconciliation; and, most of all, love.  It is the love of the Father through Christ that grace has come to each one of us through the workings of the Holy Spirit.  We are God’s children and heirs of the Kingdom.  The new society was not produced by either the French or Russian revolution, but rather Christ Himself in the bringing into the midst of human society the Kingdom of God.   In the history of the world, the Church represents Christ’s Kingdom until the end of time.  It too is under judgment for its failures, but it is also the realm of the justified and saved, the chosen people of God.

We Christians are not to be captivated by the world’s ideologies.  We are not to be misled by the promise of utopias that can only become dystopian.  We must never assent to world- maufactured promises of well-being that can only become engines of destruction.

The Christian witness stands with Christ.  He is the measure of all worldly philosophies.  We evaluate them according to His will.  Most of all, we pray that Christ’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Michael G. Tavella

May 11, 2020