A Meditation on Suffering and Evil in the World God has made
Any theology that does not offer healing, liberation, and guidance for human beings who must face suffering and evil would not be worth the effort. So many efforts to do so seem to offer superficial reflections that are unwilling to face the ocean of evil and suffering that confronts humanity. Trivial reflections simply make one weary and increase the sickness of the heart. We would be better to remain silent. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1 and Mark 15:34) The silence of the Father at this moment in the life of Jesus is a parable of the silence of the Father to all human suffering. In many ways, suffering reminds us that we are little more than small, trembling, and weak animals that decay and die. In recent history, the horror of September 11, 2001, the devastation of the tsunami in Asia in December 2004, and the evil perpetrated in the name of Islam by terrorists become graphic examples. We must not imagine that