My dear brothers and sisters, some weeks ago, on the fifth Sunday of Lent, I pointed out that God is always accompanying us in our sufferings, and that even in the darkest moments of human history – like the World War II and the accompanying atrocities – Our Lord was present with us, through the witness given by Christian faithful, often at the cost of their own lives and well-being.
Responding to this homily a faithful interlocutor responded with thanks, indicating that while it was a “comforting insight that we are not abandoned in this suffering, and that Christ is with us through the sacrifices of others,” it was not, nevertheless, an “entirely satisfactory answer to ‘why does God allow terrible suffering on innocents through war and bigotry and persecution or natural calamities like earthquakes or tsunamis.’”
He went on to elaborate:
anything that gives answers to the troubling question of why God allows bad things to happen to good people is welcome. Yes, free will and consequent sin - but it doesn’t explain everything, including illness, genetic deformities, mental deficiencies that eliminate free will (are the victims not human, then, because they don’t have free will?), natural disasters……
Also, why are only some then chosen for miraculous cures or deliverances? Do these not contradict the freely chosen sins of others? And if they are justified in some cases, why not in others?
I know that it is not possible for us humans to fully understand the wisdom of God - but we try, don’t we? Isn’t that what theology is?
Formally speaking, my interlocutor is engaged in, and invites my engagement with, what is known as theodicy - a theological or philosophical attempt to justify the goodness and omnipotence of God in the face of existing evil and suffering. What better day to engage with this question, than on the Friday that we speak about as Good Friday; the Friday when we commemorate the death of not just a good man, but an innocent man! We Christians proclaim this day good, because it demonstrates the goodness of God, who willed that His son, His only son, whom He loved, be offered up as a holocaust (Gen 22: 2) so that we may be ransomed from sin.
What every Christian must understand when faced with the death of Our Lord, is to recognize that if it was only His death – the death of the lamb without fault – which could reconcile us with God, then there wasn’t anyone before, or after, who can truly claim to be innocent. As the verses of Psalm 51 (5) recognize about human nature:
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
The sin of Adam marked all humans fundamentally, so that the tendency to sin was written into our nature. None of us, therefore, are in that sense innocent, not even a newly born babe! We were all born with the stain of Adam, necessitating the purification of baptism that wipes away the stain of this sin – cleansed through the blood offered by the single innocent in history, Our Lord Jesus Christ. And while this stain is washed away in baptism, our tendency to sin is not. To take away our tendency to sin would require that the free will offered to us by Our God be taken away, reducing us to mere puppets. God gives us this great gift – of free will – so that our love for Him is always a choice we make. And yet, free will can so often lead us to sin, often right after receiving the absolution at the sacrament of reconciliation! Also, while the guilt of sin is washed away, the effects of the sin continue to echo through all time.
Bear in mind that the Catholic Church does not teach that the child born with genetic deformities is being punished for their own sin. It is the teaching of the Catholic Church that all sickness and death, is the result of the sinful condition we live in. Sin affects us at the level of human nature and manifests as the pain and suffering endured by those who may be personally devoid of fault.
So, the challenge before us is this: how do we deal with sin, and the suffering, which is the effect of sin? Our Lord demonstrated this not theoretically, but viscerally, by embracing the Cross and putting an end to the triumph of sin, that kept all humans out of heaven. No more do we have to live with the defeatism that we cannot stand up to sin, or worse, that there is no point defying sin. Our Lord’s death opened for us the gates of heaven and ensured that the gates of hell will not triumph over the prayers and sacrifices of His people that ever batter these ancient gates.
One of the learnings I made in my time as a scholar and professional in the world of developmental sector, which curiously echoes the idea of a God who is love and wishes no harm to His creation, was that there is no such thing as a natural disaster. All natural events, such as earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, et al, that are experienced as disasters are the result of human choices, and responses – whether social, political, infrastructural. While one cannot stretch this observation too far, we must recognize that there is some fundamental truth to it.
We are now able, in some way, to appreciate that suffering in the world is the result of sin. What matters is our response to the existence of sin and its effects. The presence of a child with horrific genetic deformities that seems to make their life unlivable is an opportunity, not just for the family (nuclear or extended) but the entire community to embrace that child and give meaning and value, not just to the life of the afflicted, but to all our lives! As for that child, we know that Our Lord in His kindness has plans for those whom He has willed to be signs to elicit our goodness. So too in the case of anyone afflicted by trouble. To so embrace this effect of sin would be to defang it and bring the light of the cross into the darkness of sinful existence.
The care of the sick and the dying, by those completely unrelated by blood or circumstance, has been the mark of Christian communities since the time of Our Lord. The entire edifice of the contemporary health and social services is in fact built on the example offered by the many, and nameless, nuns, religious men, and priests who cared for their brethren because they saw in them Christ wounded for our sins.
Unfortunately, there are too few today who would strip themselves of their ties and offer themselves to religious life. It is for this reason that Christian, and particularly Catholic, life today is floundering. Today, from the Cross, Our Lord is calling all of us to take up a cross, any cross, and follow Him in the crusade against the devil. How many of us will respond?
Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi,
quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum
We adore you O Christ, and we bless you,
For by Your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.
(This homily was written only to be published on this blogspot.)
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