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This question has challenged all religions,
including our Catholic faith, from the beginning
of time.
For example, in the Old Testament, the book
of Job wrestles with this same problem. Job was
a good man who lost all of his children and property
and contracted a horrible disease. Always trusting
God despite his setbacks, job's sufferings revealed
one partial answer to why there is suffering;
good can come from it. Job became a more holy
man, a better friend, and more trusting of God
because of his sufferings. The story of Joseph
in Genesis 37-45 also points this out. Joseph
was shoved in a ditch and left for dead by his
brothers. Yet from this suffering he emerged
as the pharaoh's assistant in Egypt, in charge
of dispensing food during a worldwide famine.
In this position he was able to save his own
family from starvation.
A key insight of Job came toward the end of
his trials. Job says to God, "You have told me about
great works that I cannot understand, about marvels
which are beyond me, of which I know nothing... but
now, having seen you with my own eyes, I retract
what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes
(jb 42:3, 5-6).
Job admits that God's ways are mysterious and
that ultimately we can't understand them. It
takes humility and trust to admit that we can
never completely understand the mystery of innocent
suffering and evil in the world.
But we can understand some things about evil
and suffering. Consider the following:
God's created world is on a journey to perfection.
The world is in a process of becoming.
It is not yet perfect. Nature's constructive and
destructive forces exist side-by-side. The more
perfect exist alongside the less perfect: "with
physical good there also exist physical evil as
long as creation has not reached perfection" (CCC
310).
Just as the star athlete must experience pain
that accompanies training to hone his or her
skills, so the world undergoes pain to achieve
the perfection God has in store. We cannot now
appreciate the pain involved in this growth process
because innocent people suffer at the hands of
nature. But we believe that in God's wisdom this
growth is good for both individuals and humanity
as a whole as we journey to perfection.
The
misuse of freedom is the cause of much moral evil.
Out of divine goodness, God created humans (and
angels) as intelligent and free creatures, not
mere automatons. But these two gifts require responsibility.
We must freely choose to love God and others on
our journey toward eternity. When we refuse to
love, we sin. And sin brings about incredible
evil and suffering.
Christian
revelation tells us that when some angels chose
sin, they (fallen angels, or devils) unleashed
evil in the world in opposition to God. This is
one explanation of some of the natural evil in
the world (i.e. Tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes
(like Katrina) and the like).
Human sin leads to moral evils like terrorism,
war, rape, abortion, drug abuse, prejudice, and
greed. God does not cause moral evil. Humans,
by misusing their freedom, are the cause. God
permits moral evil, however, because God loves
and respects the free creatures he has made.
And in a way known only to God (a truth that
Job eventually admitted), God knows how to derive
good out of evil.
Christian
faith announces the good news of Jesus Christ,
who conquered the forces of evil. Certainly,
the worst moral evil in the world was for humans
to put to death the innocent Godman - Jesus. Like
any normal person, Jesus abhorred suffering and
even asked his Father to remove it. But Jesus
freely embraced the sufferings that unjustly came
his way by submitting to his Father, "May your
will be done."
God heard Jesus' prayer, not by saving Jesus
from death, but by saving him out of death. Jesus' suffering,
death, and resurrection have conquered the worst
evil: death and separation from God. If we love
as Jesus teaches us to do and join our sufferings
to him, we will share forever in the Lord's blissful,
superabundant, joy filled life.
This is "good news" that can help us cope with
the mystery of evil and suffering. |
