The evil of suffering in the world:

"Before we blame God for the evils we find in the world around us, it is well to remember this. Had there been no sin, physical evil would have been inconsistent with the Divine goodness, nor would God have allowed evil at all, except He gave man "free will" and can draw good out of evil. All physical evil, therefore, is the consequence of man’s sin, the inevitable result of the Fall."(St Augustine)

"In the messianic programme of Christ, which is at the same time the programme of the Kingdom of God, suffering is present in the world in order to release love, in order to give birth to works of love towards neighbour, in order to transform the whole of human civilization into a "civilization of love". In this love the salvific meaning of suffering is completely accomplished and reaches its definitive dimension."(Pope John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris)

To fathom the mystery of evil, Only Christian faith as a whole provide answers: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin and the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible mystery, they can also turn away in advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil. (Catholic Catechism, Profession of Faith, Why Evil? Part I, Article I, para. 309)

"If all men lived truly, without doubt we should dwell in peace and tranquillity, without debate and battle; but since among the few good are many evil, many diseases come that evil may be chastised: and thus evil things happen to good men because they are mingled with the evil unto their death. The righteous also, because they are ready to sin, so that their readiness be not brought to deed are taught to take a light scouring here, that they may escape the bitter scouring that is to come."(Richard Rolle)

"Therefore if thou suffer persecution, wretchedness, and other diseases, thou hast that which accords to the place in the which thou dwellest. Is not this the vale of tears and tribulations in which thou art? How wouldest thou therefore be glad in prison, and live in all prosperity in thine exile, or go thy long pilgrimage withouten diseases? Have mind that Christ and His apostles have suffered tormentry, and thou by bliss seek to come to joy! But thou shalt not. For either in this life, the fire of God's love shall waste the rust of our sins and cleanse our souls to make them able to flee to bliss, or else, after this life, the fire of purgatory shall punish our souls, if it happen we escape the fire of hell. Or else, if the strength of love be not so strong in us that it can altogther burn us, it behoves us to be cleansed with tribulation, sickness and dis-eases." (Richard Rolle, Fire of Love, Ch. 8)

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform:
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
With neverfailing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs
And works his sovreign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for His Grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour:
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

William Cowper

Since the fall of man, all of us, prior to the complete purification connected with the perfection of the New Man in Jesus Christ, see the world through, and emotionally colored by, the prism of our self-centered ego. Our ego is the seat of "pride," which is our self-centered view of the world, in contrast to the humble, God-centered view, we all had before the Fall. At the time of our creation and Original Awakening, we were filled with the supreme confidence in God which gave us complete security and peace. Now, however, human rebellion has reared its ugly face, and our security and our peace are gone. Therefore, we try to find confidence by mentally inflating our personal power and self-importance, and by control of the fearful world in which we somehow find ourselves, a world of people and events which we don't understand, and which don't seem to make much sense . For obvious reasons, such efforts at world and people control never achieve success. And so we live our days in existential anxiety, while "putting a good face on it," pretending to be supremely confident about life so no one will challenge our pretense, or expose our hidden insecurity, vulnerability and fear.

Our ego is a mental self-image of ourself, including our body image and our sense of "I exist," which is overlayed by a matrix of beliefs, feelings, and memories connected with our life history, and our reaction to the pleasure and pain we have found in the world. That means that we tend to view reality through the ego, not as it is, in its essential goodness of being as seen by God, but rather as good or evil depending on how it affects us, our worldview, and our desired personal security. Reality is discolored by past experience, and the matirix of beliefs and hardened positions that constitute our self-image, our ego needs, our desires, our hatreds, and our survival needs. We see reality and other persons in terms of our reaction to similar events and persons in our personal history. These events and people carry a powerful emotional charge, and so we act very fast to delete those from consciousness that cause negative emotions whenever they spontaneously pop up.

In other words, in the life we live through the insecurity of the ego, we compulsively live at a faster and faster pace seeking the ever-out-of reach prize of personal peace and security in the ego-driven world, So we must use shortcuts and shorthand methods of classification in order to make quick decisions about the vast array of data assaulting our senses. We must be capable of organizing, evaluating, and making decisions very rapidly about incoming reality in order to survive the assault on our sense of more and more, and ever-increasing complexity of data, coming in the fast-paced modern world. That way, we can avoid people, events, and a large body of data that we have already evaluated, judged, classified, and stored away as something to be avoided in the future.

We can avoid the insecurity of being accused of "wasting our time," a major sin in an insecure, ego-driven culture, and, in some circumstances, we can avoid injury or humiliation by engaging with people and things that may hurt us. We know these negative events and people, we think, and so we never have to take the time to evaluate them, or think about them, again. And when the reality, or the memory connected with negative situations and people floats into our consciousness, we "don't see the reality as it is." Rather, we quickly push the mental representation aside as something negative, something evil or physically dangerous, as in aphobia, or as someone or something which does not merit the time necessary to really "see" it, for we have already classified it or them, and need never see them again.

But then, along comes meditation and contemplation. Suddenly, in a breakthrough to true understanding, we see all of reality in a new light. Suddenly we realize that everything that exists, and everyone who exists, are made by God, are made good, and in some way reflect His Image. We begin to see that all things, and all events, work together for the greater good of those who believe. We begin to get in touch with the Wisdom of God, Who has the Universe well in hand. We begin to understand that, although there are many things we don't understand, we have no right to label anything that God has created, or allowed, as ultimately "evil." Things and people may hate and act in an evil manner, but God created them good in their being and their essence, and just like everything else in creation, they must be seen, by us, as good rather than evil. Otherwise, we shall have no part in the Vision which lights our understanding, and no part in the perfection of our spirits through ultimate "union with God."

So we realize that, if we really want union with Jesus Christ, in His perfection, we must change our less-than-perfect, entrenched point-of-view about all the people and events we have classified as negative and evil due to our self-centered ego-needs. That means we must be willing to "look at them," through God's Eyes, or "through the Mind of Christ." We must be willing to take a "fresh look" at all the negative stereotypes and prejudices that co-exist with our self-image. That means we must, also, stop pushing them, and a large chunk of total reality, out of our consciousness every time we think about it, because it carries a negative emotional charge, and because we have already rated it in terms of our worldview, and our ego. We must, at least gradually, and to the extent we are currently able, begin to look at "all of created reality," including the part we can't stand, from the viewpoint of its intrinsic goodness, as it exists in the Mind of God.

You many object, "How can good come out of innocent suffering?" This is the same question asked by an unbeliveing world looking at a man on the Cross called Jesus of Nazareth. The answer is, "What God calls good and what we call good derive from two different perspectives, one Infinite and Eternal, the other finite and worldly." From our self-centered, limited view, we can only see the evil in the event. We look at the Crucified and see blood, dirt, and unbelievable suffering. God looked upon His Crucified Son and saw the billions of souls in the Mystical Body of Christ resurrected in a Glorious and Eternal Happiness.

But why did God create this particular world when He knew that, even though it was good, it would devolve into blood-baths, hatred, and wars due to the selfishness of Fallen Man. What type of character was He trying to manifest in time so that it could reflect, and ultimately share His Character and Life in Eternity? For His Spirit has certain qualities that characterize it; besides being Powerful, it is Compassionate, Merciful, Humble, Heroic, Winningly Overcoming and Optimistic, and Infinitely Self-Giving. In what type of temporary world of existence, could these virtues be developed by man, made in God's image, so that he might enjoy participation in the Eternal Friendship and Companionship of the Exemplar of these characteristics. What other world than Planet Earth offers man the possibilities of God-like behavior through the Christian Religion, where he forgives enemies who hate him and have hurt him, or hurt those he loved. On what other planet did a Saviour appear Who, along with proving His credentials, showed us The Way to be like His Father?

The long and short of it is that God's ways and man's ways of understanding are not the same. Our job is to have Faith and trust that God will bring good out of all the evil in our lives, even the evil of "our death." For death is a signal, loud and clear, telling us something about the drama ongoing on "This is your Planet." It tells us that we are all actors in a drama that will end when someone turns off the Big TV Set telling our individual story. At that point, we will realize that everything that happened prior to then was just a preparation for Eternity. All the evil we thought was so earthshakingly significant, will be shown to have been an infitesimal blip during the audition for the "really Big Show": "The Eternal Days of our Lives." That's when everyone will Wake Up and find that God really was smarter than we were after all! That's when those will (who have had the good fortune to believe and die in grace) all look back ten hundred, trillion years, and ask, "Say, whatever happened to that little Magma-filled, asteroid planet where everyone had to audition for heaven?

On the other hand, if you take God out of the equation called life, it doesn't make any sense. Evil, then, becomes unexplainable, i.e., just a normal part of the world as we know it. If our impact in the universe is limited to our little story where we try to get one up on reality before we die forever, then it's hardly worth the effort. In fact, you might even say, "It's a story told by an idiot full of sound and fury and signifying nothing!" But then, along comes someone whose personal life is one disaster after another. This guy, who can't tie his shoelaces without help, has it all figured out. True, he finds himself suffering from addictions to greed and runaway pleasures of all kinds which are destroying his life, and he hates everyone from other generations, families, neighborhoods, countries and races. This guy may not be able to get along with anyone where he works, or where he flops, but not to worry, he's figured out where evil comes from and what's wrong with the world.

It's not greed, hatred, selfishness, and the slaughter of human bengs that has gone on every since Cain murdered his brother out of a jealous rage. It's not the wars over territorial conquest, pitting tribe against tribe, which have manifested that hatred on a global scale in places like Africa, Asia, the Ancient World, Alexander the Conqueror, Greece and Rome, Napoleon, Hitler, and so one up to the present day slaughter with smart-bombs. It has nothing to do with breaking treaties, border disputes and and anger over trade barriers. It has nothing to do with poverty, hunger, greed and the desire for more power. Oh no! Guess What? Mr shrewd observer of the world says it's religion that is causing all our problems! Religon is the source of evil in the world.

This world-class expert says, "Everyone knows that if you closed all the churches and places of worship there'd by no more evil and no more wars,man. Isn't that right?" And all the people who have abandoned Church and God in favor of selfish lives all perk up and get real serious about the importance of taking a profound moral stand at this time, which happens to support their ego and their sinful lifestyle. They shake their heads up and down vigorously and say, "Oh isn't that the truth? Freud proved it scientifically, you know. If we could just get everyone unbrainwashed from religion then the world would a virtual paradise. Why just take a look at East Germany, Cuba, North Korea, China, and Russia. Why they're wonderful places of peace giving the world a magnificant example of brotherly love, don't you think?" Then someone coughs and quickly changes the subject.

The reality of evil is brought home to us when we think about its impact in our own lives. All of us have memories of things that happened to us which were unfair and cruel. And as we think back on the incidents, events, and people who exercised abuse, or some terrible evil, we ask ourselves how could God have let this happen to us. For we were innocent, or they were innocent, and we are still, perhaps, under the spell of the effects of that evil. Perhaps it has colored our whole lives to this point.

There is only one answer, and it is the correct one. Almighty God has allowed evil to go forth into the world from the beginning. He has allowed it to infect the human race during this short period of testing. And He has allowed the Evil One and his minions to exacerbate evil through their malevolent influence in the world of man. Look at how the history of mankind is a history of bloodshed from the start. Our first father really did exist, and as we can plainly see all around us, he chose the world he has left to his descendants. Cain killed his brother out of envy, and it has been a downhill spiral ever since. Millions of innocents have been slaughtered by the hand of man as an ongoing part of our human story. WWI, WWII, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Korea, Viet Nam, WWIII?

If we should learn one thing from the evil experienced in our own lives, it is this: Evil is real! And it can be cold, calculating, and unbelievably ruthless as it spreads its murderous tentacles throghout the globe. How many innocents have been physically and mentally abused and destroyed through war, man-made poverty and famine, abortion, euthanasia, murder, suicide, scandal, depression, hatred, fear, intimidation, and torture? And that's just the short list.

The point of it all is this: While evil is real, God has created a world in which man's free-will is given the opportunity to choose the good, while confronted with powerful opposition from the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. God has made man in His own image. That means we are called to love like He Loves. That means we are called to Heroic Love which requires the opportunity for "overcoming" obstacles, sometimes huge obstacles, of all manner and all shape. We are each called to "overcome" evil. And the power and shape of our overcoming is in direct proportion to our personal understanding of the power and shape of evil. Some are called to a much higher level of overcoming and sanctity than others. But we must never forget, and it's no cliche: "In Christ Jesus we are more than conquerors!"

When you think of the evil in the world, and, more importantly, when you think of the evil in your life experience, remember this: God is better at Kindness and Understanding than you are. He is better at Justice and Mercy than you are. He created you with your capacity and concern for innocent suffering. He created you from a Wonderful Design within Himself, a Self which contained Infinite concern for innocent suffering many aeons before you or the world existed. And He put some of that concern in you. As Creative Father, He knows better than you do about all His little ones, all the innocent victims of all the horrendous crimes of which mankind and evil are capable. And He also knows about all the people who would never have turned from lives of lukewarmness and sin had He not allowed some terrible catastrophe to occur. For when we get too comfortable in this world, evil and the fear of death remind us of our true destiny as nothing else can.

This is only a testing-ground of extremely short duration, a blip on the scale of Eternity. And all the victims of all the evil and crimes of mankind will shine forth like stars in heaven in the Transforming Light of Christ's Eternal Glory! You see, it was for them that He came and died. And they will spend eternity with you praising God for having created them, and for having allowed them to Know Him, Love Him, and be part of His Life. For God's Love and Goodness are magnificent beyond human understanding. And they encompass and transform in Goodness and Eternal Reward, all the possibilities and nuances of temporal suffering in a grandeur we could never begin to understand. And all the people, and all the innocents and little ones, will be transformed in the Joyous Bliss of an Innocent Son, Who by His Love for a Father, took unto Himself the suffering of the innocents and the little ones of the world, and gave them a share in the Resurrection of Everlasting Life.

Temporal Evil
St Augustine

"The good man is neither uplifted with the good things of time, nor broken by its ills; but the wicked man, because he is corrupted by this world's happiness, feels himself punished by its unhappiness. Yet often, even in the present distribution of temporal things, does God plainly evince His own interference. For if every sin were now visited with manifest punishment, nothing would seem to be reserved for the final judgment; on the other hand, if no sin received now a plainly divine punishment, it would be concluded that there is no divine providence at all.

"And so of the good things of this life: if God did not by a very visible liberality confer these on some of those persons who ask for them, we should say that these good things were not at His disposal; and if He gave them to all who sought them, we should suppose that such were the only rewards of His service; and such a service would make us not godly, but greedy rather, and covetous. Wherefore, though good and bad men suffer alike, we must not suppose that there is no difference between the men themselves, because there is no difference in what they both suffer.

"For even in the likeness of the sufferings, there remains an unlikeness in the sufferers; and though exposed to the same anguish, virtue and vice are not the same thing. For as the same fire causes gold to glow brightly, and chaff to smoke; and under the same flail the straw is beaten small, while the grain is cleansed; and as the lees are not mixed with the oil, though squeezed out of the vat by the same pressure, so the same violence of affliction proves, purges, clarifies the good, but damns, ruins, exterminates the wicked. And thus it is that in the same affliction the wicked detest God and blaspheme, while the good pray and praise. So material a difference does it make, not what ills are suffered, but what kind of man suffers them.

"Accordingly this seems to me to be one principal reason why the good are chastised along with the wicked, when God is pleased to visit with temporal punishments the profligate manners of a community. They are punished together, not because they have spent an equally corrupt life, but because the good as well as the wicked, though not equally with them, love this present life; while they ought to hold it cheap, that the wicked, being admonished and reformed by their example, might lay hold of life eternal.

"And if they will not be the companions of the good in seeking life everlasting, they should be loved as enemies, and be dealt with patiently. For so long as they live, it remains uncertain whether they may not come to a better mind. These selfish persons have more cause to fear than those to whom it was said through the prophet, "He is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." For watchmen or overseers of the people are appointed in churches, that they may unsparingly rebuke sin.

"Nor is that man guiltless of the sin we speak of, who, though he be not a watchman, yet sees in the conduct of those with whom the relationships of this life bring him into contact, many things that should be blamed, and yet overlooks them, fearing to give offence, and lose such worldly blessings as may legitimately be desired, but which he too eagerly grasps. Then, lastly, there is another reason why the good are afflicted with temporal calamities-the reason which Job's case exemplifies: that the human spirit may be proved, and that it may be manifested with what fortitude of pious trust, and with how unmercenary a love, it cleaves to God.

"These are the considerations which one must keep in view, that he may answer the question whether any evil happens to the faithful and godly which cannot be turned to profit. Or shall we say that the question is needless, and that the apostle is vaporing when he says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God?"

"They lost all they had. Their faith? Their godliness? The possessions of the hidden man of the heart, which in the sight of God are of great price? Did they lose these? For these are the wealth of Christians, to whom the wealthy apostle said, "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, find it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which, while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

"Like a good servant, Job counted the will of his Lord his great possession, by obedience to which his soul was enriched; nor did it grieve him to lose, while yet living, those goods which he must shortly leave at his death. But as to those feebler spirits who, though they cannot be said to prefer earthly possessions to Christ, do yet cleave to them with a somewhat immoderate attachment, they have discovered by the pain of losing these things how much they were sinning in loving them. For their grief is of their own making; in the words of the apostle quoted above, "they have pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

"For it was well that they who had so long despised these verbal admonitions should receive the teaching of experience. For when the apostle says, "They that will be rich fall into temptation," and so on, what he blames in riches is not the possession of them, but the desire of them. For elsewhere he says, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."

"They who were making such a use of their property have been consoled for light losses by great gains, and have had more pleasure in those possessions which they have securely laid past, by freely giving them away, than grief in those which they entirely lost by an anxious and selfish hoarding of them. For nothing could perish on earth save what they would be ashamed to carry away from earth. Our Lord's injunction runs, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

"And they who have listened to this injunction have proved in the time of tribulation how well they were advised in not despising this most trustworthy teacher, and most faithful and mighty guardian of their treasure. For if many were glad that their treasure was stored in places which the enemy chanced not to light upon, how much better founded was the joy of those who, by the counsel of their God, had fled with their treasure to a citadel which no enemy can possibly reach!"

St. Augustine

Psalm 46

1: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2: Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3: Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4: There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5: God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6: The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7: The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8: Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9: He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10: Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11: The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.