Heart Repair 101: The Real Presence
Why God Allows Suffering
Photo by Louis Galvez on Unsplash
A reflection on today's Responsorial Psalm:
"He spreads snow like wool; frost He strews like ashes” (Psalm 147:16).
During the past San Diego wildfires I heard a woman remark, "I don't think people were meant to live in California, it's full of disasters."
On the contrary, everything that happens is meant to happen, according to God's divine plan. The Catechism teaches that, "Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases." (CCC, Para. 303) This may sound harsh and often prompts the question, "How can such a loving God allow such suffering?" God allows it because He's loving!
Since God is good all the time, we know His plan must be as well. His reasons are loving because they give us opportunities to seek Him in the course of our own disasters. He heals us through our pain, so instead of asking "Why?", we must learn to accept what comes our way and lean on Him. This allows His plan, which is perfect, to dominate our plan, which lacks His wisdom and greatness. It succeeded for Jesus, who continued to trust His Father through every suffering. Our Father has the same good plan for us, but we must be like Jesus and become a part of it.
God speaks to us in many ways and nature is only one of them. As it is with disasters, we repeatedly see God's goodness amid the chaos around us. Again and again, He uses our circumstances to strengthen and bless us, so when our disaster ends, we must never fail to see what's left in the ruins—the good He intended for us all along.
“Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.” (CCC, Para. 303)
Blessed Lent!
Elizabeth
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About the Author
Elizabeth Tichvon is a Catholic writer and Consecrated Marian Catechist under the Direction of His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke. Always faithful to the Magisterium, she spreads and defends the Catholic faith as a true witness of Christ, confessing the name of Jesus boldly, never ashamed of the Cross.
Elizabeth became aware of the need for the New Evangelization while in the two years of her formation as a Marian Catechist and wrote over 200 published meditations on Sacred Scripture from the daily Liturgy of the Word for various Catholic websites, and following Jesus' example, now teaches through her own parables so that by sharing her stories through social media, might bring others closer to the heart of Christ. She is currently a regular columnist at Catholic365 and as a Marian Catechist, her spiritual life is the foundation of her writing.
She completed UCLA's Graduate Program With Honors and worked as a Paralegal for 32 years before retiring from Chrysler's Office of the General Counsel in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
