By Fr. Thom Hennen
Question Box
Several weeks ago in this column, I attempted to tackle a question about why God seems to put up with wars, violence and other human atrocities. I only got so far. After all, it is much “easier” to explain human-made disasters. We have free will and often misuse it. But what about things such as natural disasters or disease? Why doesn’t God step in and fix those? Does he like toying with us or watching people suffer? No! A thousand times, no. But why then?
Things like natural disasters and illness fall into a category of what we call “natural” or “physical evil,” as opposed to “moral evil,” which implies human agency. A “natural or physical evil” doesn’t mean it is diabolical (from the devil) or that it has a will of its own or that God is hurling it at us. We mean evil in the most general sense of the word: a privation of some good.
So, why do does God seem to allow natural or physical evil to happen, even if he doesn’t actively cause them? The world does as the world does; things in the world do as they were created to do. In a way, “why?” is the wrong question. We might as well ask, “Why is the sky blue?” Yes, I know there is a perfectly reasonable scientific answer to this question but it is more about how this phenomenon occurs than why. The larger question still looming is why this has to be the way it is in the first place.
Similarly, while it is perfectly normal human behavior to ask why in the face of evil, whether moral or natural, the more relevant spiritual question is: How do I respond to this reality?
When faced with a moral evil, we can ask, “What can I do to change this?” In the face of truly natural disaster, however, I think we can waste a lot of emotional energy trying to figure out why, when sometimes we need to accept those things that are truly out of our control and carry on as best we can.
I know, I’m not really answering the question. But if I had an “easy,” perfect answer that you could tie up with a pretty little bow, then I would advise you to run the other way. This is a timeless question for a reason.
It is okay not to have crisp, clean answers to everything. At the same time, it important for us to engage the process and wrestle with these things. Many “short cuts” lead off a cliff and some meandering paths turn out to be worth the journey. I honestly worry about humanity’s current capacity to do this kind of thing, to grapple with mystery.
Beyond just saying that the world does as the world does, there is also a sense in our theological tradition that the first choice of human beings to turn away from God had far-reaching repercussions for them and for the rest of creation. St. Paul seems to allude to this when he writes, “We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now.” There is a sense that all of creation was caught up in our fall and, therefore, that all creation is also caught up in our redemption. We can take this notion too far, of course, but I don’t think we can absolutely dismiss it.
(Father Thom Hennen serves as the pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport and vicar general for the Diocese of Davenport. Send questions to messenger@davenportdiocese.org)
