Comments on: Why Does God Allow Evil to Happen?

By: johngonzalez

johngonzalez — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:29:38 +0000

well put Cheryl. I would assume that the concept of God’s time may give many of us including myself much trouble. Again it takes us out of the element of control. We have expectations and those expectations are also limited from our own finite experience. We who struggle to live the Kingdom of God are challenged by this perspective of space and time. Scripture is a sacred story that describes this process so that we can identify our situation within the context of a greater picture. I love how Catholics recognize the ongoing tradition that continues where scripture ends so that we can see how throughout the recent historical periods we continue to develop the vision of the Gospel. Scriture will not tell us the details of why a specific tragedy happened but it will place a context for what we are going through. That is why I think the Book of Job offers us much wisdom from the recent situation that the Haitians are going through and anyone else who feels desolate and abandoned.

By: Cheryl Murphy

Cheryl Murphy — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:53:43 +0000

I just read Fr. Ron Rolheiser’s Jan 24th column addressing where is God in all this? Fr. Rolheiser points out that Scripture usually doesn’t answer this. It doesn’t try to explain… “It simply continues to tell its story, and, eventually, we see how God redeems a tragedy from which he didn’t rescue its victims….” In Haiti “….[God was] weeping with its people, grieving outside its mass graves, sitting in the sadness beside its collapsed buildings. He was there, though he provided no Hollywood or Superman-type rescue. Moreover we can be sure he will redeem what was lost. In God’s time, eventually, not a single life or single dream that died in Haiti will remain unredeemed. In the end, all will be well and all will be well and every manner of being will be well.”

By: John

John — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:23:29 +0000

I think it’s an amazing thing to consider the Crucifixion as a moment of incarnation where God experiences the suffering, pain and abandonment. Based on this theology we believe that God walks with us in our own pain and misery. With Paul preaching about the mystical Body in the second reading for this Sunday it makes me think that we are called to express the same compassion to our suffering brothers and sisters that we believe God has for all those who are in the midst of suffering. As you say Deacon Tony: “Loving and Doing Good to our Neighbors.”

By: Deacon Tony Cuseo

Deacon Tony Cuseo — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:08:45 +0000

I like to think that God crys with us and suffers with us when we are faced with suffering and pain. I belive that God wants us to do all we can to alleviate the sufferings around us by living the Gospel and following the teachings of Jesus and loving and doing good to our neighbors.

By: Nancy Nickel

Nancy Nickel — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:40:18 +0000

John,
Can I get a copy of that photo of Rick Frechette with the child? Great commentary!