If God is
all-powerful, and if God is all-good, why is there suffering in the world? This is an ancient question, more recently deployed
as a rejection of God. But perhaps the
false assumption is not that there is a God, or that He is all-good and
all-powerful, but that suffering is incontrovertibly evil. Of course, there is a relationship between
suffering and evil; any privation of good is in some way evil. But is suffering evil, period, end of
sentence? Are they identical, or
inseparable?
One of the many
reasons that the Catholic faith is held up for ridicule in the world, even by
people who claim to embrace it, is that it not only makes the bold assertion
that suffering is not exclusively evil, but that suffering is part of the best
thing that ever happened to the world, and that you and I and every person we
meet should actually choose and
inflict upon themselves some suffering. On purpose. Madness!
Yes, that is why the word “Lent” appears in so many punch lines.
Suffering, including
our distance from God and unfamiliarity with His ways, is a result of sin. It first entered our world through the free
action of our forbears, Original Sin, and is reinvigorated in every life through
human action freely chosen, actual sins.
Suffering, whether by
privation of good or active presence of pain or evil, was transformed when God
Himself, through the free obedience of His Son, suffered on our behalf even
unto death, the ultimate privation of good and accomplishment of evil. By Jesus’ free act, and the victory over
death that He accomplished with it, suffering is transformed forever and for
all into an act in which human freedom working in love has the power to
transform evil into good.
Two weeks ago, I
shared Msgr. Pope’s admiring reflection on the passion, that is, the suffering
of our patroness, Saint Bernadette Soubirous.
I admit that I hesitated to make it all available, thinking that to many
who would read it, the overwhelming impression of the life of the saint would have
been one not of blessing and holiness, but of punishment and sorrow. How can that be good, and who would desire
that?
Imagine, for a
moment, that pain and privation gave you not sorrow, but joy. Wouldn’t that change your disposition toward
everything? What would you fear and
avoid? What would you pursue and embrace? Who would have power over you? See
how your life would change – for the better?
That is motivation
enough for you and for me to enter into this Lent with anticipation, not
trepidation. Whatever penance we freely
impose upon ourselves, and unite with the passion that Jesus freely undertook
for us, is a step toward joy, and a step away from fear and oppression. In Lent we should regret not the penances
that we bear for forty days, but only whatever penance we failed to take up, or
failed to carry; only that could be our sorrow.
Bear this in mind as
you calculate your program for Lent: do not be stinting in the portion of penance
you think you can manage and still “get credit” for it. Rather, embrace something that ordinarily
would be too great a burden, but by your union with Christ, will be redeemed
into a cause for joy.
The presence of
suffering in the world does not disprove the existence or benevolence of God. Rather
God Himself, by the saving Passion of His Son, has redeemed the suffering that
He did not bring to the world, and made it the place where in freedom we may
find union with Him. And that union is perfect
joy.
Monsignor
Smith
