The Epistle tells us: "Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." You see, it must be evident that we are Catholics. Those who are not Catholic love to criticize us; they watch and say, "And he calls himself a Catholic, yet he goes to church every day, and then... and then..." We cannot react to evil as those who are not Catholic do—that is to say, "I am paying them back." No, no, no. I do not seek to pay back. We do not pay back. Do not be dominated by evil; evil must not dominate us. This is very easy to say, but complicated to do. However, if we began when we were small, because our Catholic parents taught us this, when we become adults, we are already accustomed to the fact that just because someone does me harm does not mean I must do them harm. A Catholic no longer acts in such a way.

And you know, it is very easy to say, "Oh yes, I have forgiven, I have already forgotten." Ah, really? "Yes, yes, I have forgotten." This is why Jesus is truly very practical, very simple. He says, "Ah, you have forgotten? You have already forgiven? Very well. Did you give him something to eat the last time he asked you for food?" It is not words, as I have said; it is not what one says—"Lord, Lord"—but what one does. Words, acts; not words, acts. Do not say, "Yes, yes, I have forgiven, I am not overcome by evil," if yesterday, when he asked you for rice, you did not give it to him. If he is thirsty, give him drink. To not be dominated by evil means that it is not because he did me harm that I refuse him food when he is in need. If I do not have rice, that is one thing, but if I have it, I must give it to him, otherwise I am dominated by evil. "Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." This is how we become victors over evil.

Next, you have the example of the leper who asks Jesus for healing. And you know that leprosy is the symbol of sin. Therefore, the leper is the sinner; that is to say, it is us. What must we do? Well, we must go toward Jesus. "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean; Thou canst forgive me; Thou canst take away my sins." And Jesus is ready. What He asks, precisely, is that we make the request—that we be repentant, that we ask for forgiveness. And you see, He sets the example for us; this is the link with the Epistle. Jesus is not overcome by the evil that we do. We are sinners, we do not listen to what God says, we do what we want. He is not overcome by that; He does not say, "And yet, behind my back, you..." No, He forgives. He gives us that example so that we ourselves might be ready to forgive.

And Jesus says, "See thou tell no man." He often said this; when Jesus performed miracles, He did not allow for publicity. Today, we have people who say they know the Gospels, yet they seek publicity for their supposed miracles. This shows clearly that they are not miracles. That is not how Jesus acted. And finally, "Go, show thyself to the priest." Thus, Jesus shows clearly that to erase sins, there is the priest, there is the priesthood. Similarly, people who claim to work miracles today seek publicity, yet they say one must not go to the priest; and yet, Jesus says this to the leper: "Go, show thyself to the priest."

Finally, Jesus enters Capernaum, which is where He lived. And there is this servant of the Centurion, who was a Roman. Imagine, in the colonial era in Gabon: Jesus was a Gabonese, and there are colonists who come to see Him and say, "Ah, my servant... things are not going well." This shows us how not to be overcome by evil. Jesus does not say, "Excuse me, you are a colonist, it is you who exploits my country." No, not at all. Jesus receives him, He listens to his request, his grievance, and Jesus—not being overcome by evil—says, "I will come; I will come to your house." Imagine at the time, people might have said, "But He is a traitor!" Jesus, a traitor to His people? The Centurion is a Roman, a colonist. He says, "No, I will come to your house, and I will heal your servant."

The Centurion, just because he is a colonist, does not mean he is bad. He says, "No, Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof." The Centurion is the colonist, the leader, yet he comes to supplicate the colonized. He comes to show that he is not part of this story of pride—"I am the colonist." No. And Jesus is not in a story of vengeance—"I will pay you back; you came to dominate my country." Not at all. And Jesus says, "Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel." Do you realize? Among the people who were colonized like Him, He says there is not one who has faith like this man—and this man is a colonist. This is how one is not overcome by evil: knowing how to recognize the qualities in one another; knowing how to be of service whenever possible, even if it is a colonist, even if he insulted me, even if, even if... I am not overcome by evil.

And so, Jesus says, "What you ask of me is granted." And then, Jesus tells us why He does it. Why does He let a colonist come to supplicate Him like that? He knew all of this, but why does He do it? Why does He want us to know it? It is because, as He told us several times, religion is not a matter of being a colonist or not. It is not a question of being from the same people or not. God is for everyone. And what He says at the end: "I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob." So, it is for everyone. You see, those who say, "Oh yes, it is an imported religion," well, it is for everyone. It does not matter. As Jesus shows, whether he is a colonist or not has no importance. If I can help him, I help him. Salvation is for all.

Some say, "Yes, Catholicism was brought to us by the whites, the French." Well, it was brought—and so, what of it? Truth is truth. If a Chinese person tells you that one plus one equals two, you do not say "no" just because it is a Chinese person telling you. Even if it were the devil himself who told you that one plus one equals two, you would not say, "No, it is false because it is the devil." No, it is true.

Therefore, before the Good Lord, let us take these lessons: First, to conquer evil. That we shall not be dominated by evil. And the proof is that we do good to those who have done us evil. If he is hungry and we have food, we give it to him. If he is thirsty and we have drink, we give it to him. We show that we are not overcome by the evil he does to us. It is very important to have this stature; we are above the evil that can be done to us. Secondly, we are lepers. We must go to the priest to confess. There is the other example where they had not even reached the priest before they were already cleansed, because sometimes it is not possible. Sometimes the priest is not available, or we are in a country where there are no priests. Take, for example, our students who might be in Morocco; that is a Muslim country. One can find oneself in a situation where it is complicated to find a priest. But what I mean is that one must have that will, that desire, whenever the priest is available.

And finally, to be above the things that happen on this earth—that there are those who dominate, those who are unjust, etc. This is not a reason to put everyone in the same bag. We are not going to put all the colonists in the same bag. Especially since the colonies are over. we are not going to dwell on that. As I was saying, the parents did what they did; we are not going to dwell on it. Now we are adults. Our countries are no longer colonized. We are not going to spend our time talking about these things. Let us move forward. Let us organize ourselves.

Asking all this of the Good Lord, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.



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Father Ndong is a resistance priest based in Gabon. The original sermon was in French. We used AI to translate and output the voice. But it is faithful.