I was asked this question again not too long ago in an email from a dear friend. It's one of the most frequent questions (sometimes complaints) I've heard in my 41 years of priestly service.
One need not have to have lived many years on this earth before confronting this reality and all of its implications. Indeed, there is much evil and suffering in the world: war, hunger, sickness, natural disasters and the pain which our sinfulness causes to ourselves and others.
Every person of faith must wonder why God allows shipwrecks, airplane crashes and other catastrophes that bring such sorrow in their wake. Why does God allow so many to be born or to bear with infirmities or impairments they will live with for the rest of their lives?
The existence of evil will always remain a stumbling block for those who choose not to believe in God. Even some believers who have suffered so much or have witnessed so much evil have used those experiences as a justification for turning away from their Christian faith and for not living according to the moral precepts of Jesus.
There is no simple answer to this profound and disturbing question. Yet, our Catholic faith does provide us with insights into the reality of the world in which we live, a world created in goodness and love but a world that has been broken and disordered by sin.
We know from the consistent teachings of the Sacred Scriptures and the Church that God is an all-wise, omniscient and omnipotent Father Who loves us whom He created in His image and likeness. The Book of Genesis instructs us that God looked upon everything He created and pronounced it good. In light of this revelation, God is not and can never be considered as the source or cause of evil.
Yet, it is quite obvious that God allows evil to enter into creation, principally by creatures who possess free will. God created us with the faculty of freedom of will. Endowed with this gift, we can choose to observe the teachings of the Lord which bring life and goodness into our lives. But, we can use this same freedom to live a life of pride, self-absorption and sinfulness. God will not take away man's freedom. To do so would mean the annihilation of the very nature of human beings as moral creatures. And so, God necessarily permits the consequences which result when human beings distort their freedom of will and engage in actions which are destructive of themselves, others and the created world in which they exist.
Humanity's misuse of freedom has brought disorder and destructiveness into creation. The Scriptures provide adequate testimony to this truth as does the consistent teachings of the Church regarding the moral character of humanity and the consequences of sinfulness.
Yet, even though His dearest and most beloved of creatures has chosen to introduce evil through stubborn pride, the same Scriptures and Church teachings proclaim that God continues to show His infinite compassion and love through the redemptive charity He offers us in the gift and sacrifice of His Only-begotton Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, there are physical and moral evils in the world. God, a good and loving Father, permits them to exist. Yet, in Christ Jesus and through His ministry which continues through the Church He instituted, God gives humanity the means of grace to heal this broken and disordered creation. We hold with our grasp the power of the Divine Godhead, Sanctifying Grace, to re-order ourselves and all creation back to the Mind and Will of the Creator.
Perhaps, the greatest mystery of evil in the world is this: that God permits it so that many may finally realize the self-destructiveness and futility of sin and turn in humility once again to the Father Whose will it is that we should live and not die. May the Lord inspire us to do just that and turn the world from selfishness and sin to the life of love to which Our Lord Jesus always invites us. God loves us this much. That in itself is the greatest mystery, indeed!
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