Justice and Suffering

Often times people will ask, "Is God a just God?" And from that question a few more naturally arise. For instance, "Why do bad things happen to good people and why do bad people get away with so much?" Sometimes these questions go even deeper and more personal. "Why did my parent, spouse, sibling get cancer and suffer so much, how could God allow that?"

Boy, did I just open myself up to writing not just a reflection but a book or volumes of books on the questions of suffering, I guess I am a glutton for punishment. Yet, they are questions we have all asked ourselves to some degree throughout our lives. Sometimes people will answer piously, i.e., Jesus is with you, or sometimes people will just listen, shake their heads in acknowledgement, because we have been trained as good pastoral ministers to be "good listeners," or we will say very abstract and feel good things like, "I am journeying with you," or "I am here for you." All of those things, the pious, the nonverbal acknowledgements, and the feel good statements are helpful and even appropriate, they are part of the Gospel in and that we assist our neighbor.

The problem is not so much how we minister, but a person's understanding of God in His justice and how He is in relationship with us, not just when we or someone becomes gravely ill, but our relationship with Christ - all the time.

Allow me to explain, the questions we ask of "why do bad things happen or why God allows them" is basically a question that is rooted in my human wants, i.e. I want to live longer or why does my close relative have to die and die this way? In some ways being "rooted" in the earthly cannot be helped, even Jesus Himself looked not to suffer when He asked His Father to take this cup of suffering away from Him if it was His will. And yet, God allows it. What good is there in a man being tortured, humiliated, defamed, and executed? In the earthly sense, there is no good, but in a wider sense of the spiritual, it was the greatest good. By that sacrifice we are all given new life.

As human beings we tend to forget that heaven is better than here. We tend to forget that no one wants to come back after they are gone. It maybe that God does not allow others to come back once they are gone, but nevertheless no one returns. St. Paul himself said, "I'd rather be with the Lord." Why does he say such a thing? Because he realizes that ultimate human fulfillment and happiness can only be with God, to see and experience Him in the beatific vision.

Mostly everyone will agree, that being with the Lord is the greatest, the problems or questions that come are, "why does it have to be so hard to get there?" People suffer in life, not just when they are in the process of dying. Here there is no easy answer to why does it have to be so hard.

One part of the answer to the question is because we love so fiercely. We love our families and friends, we also love life. Jesus gave us the instinct to survive so that we would not lay down and die before our time. He gives us the grace to love others so that we will be for others more than ourselves. All of this comes with a price, because when they suffer, we suffer. Yes God could have made it easier, but then there would be no love and I wouldn't think twice of someone else or myself. That type of existence is lower than animals.

I also believe and believe strongly that nothing is in vain, there is a purpose for everything under heaven, even when someone suffers what we consider to be be unjust suffering. Sometimes we do not understand the why, and sometimes the answers are long in coming, but everyone's suffering is redemptive in value, both to the person suffering and those who suffer with them. St. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ . . . I make up what is lacking in Christ's sacrifice." We are joined to the Cross with Christ, on that Cross it is hard and even unbearable, but He did not suffer alone, we were there, and when we are put on our Cross we are not alone, Jesus goes up with us. The Cross does not last forever, when we breathe our last, then the stone rolls away and we enter into Light, again not alone, but with the man who was on the Cross with us.

Never an easy answer to suffering, but one thing I know for sure, we are NEVER alone, we have our families and friends, and most of all God guiding and supporting us through the last sacrament, death itself. Baptism really come full circle!

Father John Picinic

Picture from the "Passion of the Christ"