Allies

In the Gospels, the Pharisees almost always appear as villains.

In today’s first reading (Acts 22:30; 23:6-11), St. Paul effectively makes the Pharisees his allies in a particular situation.

Paul does this not by compromising the truth, but by focusing on a controversial area in which he and the Pharisees strongly agree.

This wisdom is especially important for us in today’s world.

I once heard a Catholic bishop, whose politics tend to be progressive, say that because abortion was so great an evil, he would hold hands with the (conservative and generally Protestant) Moral Majority to fight it.

Upon the passing of the great Pope John Paul II, prominent Protestant leaders with a deep-rooted theological antipathy toward the Pope of Rome nonetheless spoke glowingly of him in his stands against communism.

More recently, the writer John Allen has often noted that Pope Benedict sees Evangelicals and even Muslims as natural allies in opposing the scourge of secularism and its various denigrations of human nature.

To be sure, we cannot compromise the truth nor ignore the threat that our sometime allies may otherwise pose to the spread of the Gospel, yet we like St. Paul should use every bit of wisdom and prudence we can, including the careful use of allies, so that the Good may be protected and enhanced and that the Truth may be spread more fruitfully.