why evil exists: 4th week of Lent Tuesday 2013

Last week we asked ourselves, is God really almighty as the creed professes?  Is God all powerful?  Is God in control?  Then why, we ask, does evil exist?  Why is it that God seems not to be in control of things, there is a seeming absence, and in the words of the former pope, God seems to be asleep at times. 

May ginatawag kita nga physical evil – ang mga kakulangan sa aton pagkatawo katulad abi sang balati-an, mga disabilities, ukon mga kalamidad kag iban pa nga mga kalainan nga wala kita sing control.  Kag may ara man nga moral evil nga bunga sang aton mga choices, ginpili naton ini, and therefore we are in control of this kind of evil.  So going back to the question, if God created everything good, why is there evil in the world?

The catechesis provides two answers.

First, the world we live in is in the process of becoming.  God could create a perfect world – sarang sia makahimo sang kalibutan nga wala na sing balati-an, wala na sang physical nga mga kakulangan, wala bagyo, wala tig-ilinit.  Sa puede puede gid.  However, God chose to create a world in a state of journeying towards its perfection. In other words, indi pa kompleto, wala pa nahuman.  We are in the process of becoming until we reach perfection.  That is why in our world there are among us the more perfect but there are also among us the less perfect.  There are constructive forces, there are also destructive forces in our world.  For as long as we have not yet achieved perfection physical good and physical evil will exist side by side.  That is why we have to learn to be patient with one another.  We have to be compassionate by trying always to understand – to understand that we are becoming.  There is evil in the world because we are still in the process of becoming marching our way towards a perfection that is yet to be fulfilled.

So do not be angry with your imperfections, with our seeming powerlessness at times.  Nagatigulang kita, and with it indi na gid man kita mas maanyag katulad sang una, malilipaton na kita kon kaisa, may mga butang nga indi na naton mabuhat.  And added to this we have to take a lot of medicines.  Tani wala na lang ini no?  Tani forever young na lang kita.  But we could not be like that.  This is an imperfect world and the more we deny these things, these changes, these imperfections in our world, the more we become unhappy.  Amo na siling nila nga denial mode.

Second reason to the question why is there evil in the world, the catechism says that the human person is intelligent and free.  We journey towards perfection and as human persons we do so by our free choice.  We can choose.    We may choose to do good or we may choose to do evil.  The good that we choose affect not just ourselves but people around us.  The evil that we choose to do affect not just ourselves but even the people around us, even innocent ones.   Our good has effects even beyond us.  The bad that we do have effects even beyond us.   

God is not the cause of what we call moral evil.  If you choose to kill a person it is not God who causes the murder and the consequences of that murder but the choice of man.  If you choose to steal it is not God who causes it but the person who chose to steal. 

Our gospel today is very clear on the relationship of the power of God over the world, and the power of man on the choices he or she make.  Jesus came to the sick man and ask him “do you want to be well?” - the master of the world asking powerless man to decide for himself; the creator and ruler of the world asking man to consider what he wants to do with his situation.  Naglisensya ang Dios.  That is how powerful man is – he can choose to end this world in a nuclear holocaust if man wants to.

Lord teach us two things today.  Teach us that perfection is not to be found in this world.  We are bound to see disabilities, we are bound to confront sickness and old age, we will still see hunger and homelessness, the poor will still be with us.  We will work for a perfect world, for a perfect society, even for a perfect family but teach us that we can only do as much.  So teach us to be patient and above all teach us to look forward to the perfect world which you alone Lord can provide.  To be hopeful, to be excited by hope.

Secondly, Lord, teach us that there are many things in our lives that we are in control of.  We can choose to be more generous, to be more forgiving, to be more loving.  We can choose to end injustice in our own little communities.  We can choose to be faithful to one another.  We can choose to tell the truth and not to lie.  Our lives can never be perfect but we can choose to make it better.  So help us Lord, to be conscious of what we can change and what we can only accept as a given, and help us to know the difference.  Amen.