The Problem of Pain

St. Thomas Aquinas said that when all is said and done, there are only two reasons why people do not believe in God. The first itself has several variations, but it’s basically that we think that we don’t need God. Everything is working just fine without Him. Why interject a Divine Being? There is a scientific variation of this that we considered at PX90 when we talked about apologetics. I think that we saw that even science disproves this argument.

There’s also a kind of lazy, apathetic version of this argument. We just don’t want to make the effort as long as things are going well. Of course, this argument collapses in the face of catastrophes.

The fundamental response to this position is the restlessness of the human spirit. No matter what we do, we are never at peace; we are always looking for more. It’s kind of like being a drug addict. The next time around, the last fix just won’t be enough. We need more and more until we end up dead.
No material thing will ever satisfy the longing in our hearts. As St. Augustine famously wrote, “Our heart is restless until it rests in the You.” This idea was recently brought up again by Pope Francis when he said, “We possess within us a yearning for the infinite, an infinite sadness, a nostalgia … which is satisfied only by an equally infinite response.” And that response can only be God.

The second argument against the existence of God is the problem of pain. The question goes something like this: how can there be an all-powerful, all-good, all-loving God when He allows such pain in the world… in me?
First, we have to acknowledge that God did not bring pain and suffering into the world. Pain and suffering entered the world only as the result of original sin. Pain and suffering continue because of our own sins. It is adolescent of us to blame God for the pain and suffering that we (collectively as the human race) have brought upon ourselves.

Some people suggest that He should not have allowed us to sin. But to do that, He would have had to have taken away our free-will, and He wouldn’t do that. You see, God is love. He wants us to love Him more than we can imagine. Love must be a free choice, or it isn’t love. Without free-will, we would be robots or mere animals. No, God gave us free will so that we could choose to love Him. But, of course, we can always choose to reject Him and choose ourselves.

But that isn’t the end of the discussion. God triumphed over all the evil in the world, and He did it with pain and suffering. God the Father sent His only Son to become man to redeem us, to save us, through the very pain and suffering that were the results of original sin. It is only through the cross that we are saved.

And Jesus’ suffering on the cross isn’t the end of it, either. In one way or another, Jesus said “Follow Me” twenty-three (23) times in the Gospels. He said, “Follow Me,” and He went to the cross. I believe that He was inviting us to share with Him in His crucifixion, His suffering, His salvation of the world.

Paul in Colossians 1:24 said, “Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his Body, which is the Church.” Paul understood that he could offer up his sufferings as a form of prayer. We can do that too.

We all experience suffering in our lives: some more than others. We don’t have to go looking for it. It comes as an unwanted guest, overstaying its welcome. St. Alphonsus Ligouri suffered grievously during his life, receiving the sacrament of the dying eight times. Late in his life he wrote, “Nothing is more pleasing to God than to see a soul suffering with patience and peace all the crosses that He sends.”

In a similar vein, St. Francis de Sales said:

“The mortifications that come to us from God, or from fellow humans with God’s permission, are always more precious than those born of our own will. It is a general rule that the less our own choice is involved, the more pleased God is, and the greater profit for ourselves.”

We like to be in charge of things. We don’t like to feel out of control. And yet, that is exactly what we are called to do. Mary’s “Fiat”, when she said, “Let it be done to me according to Your will” was a perfect submission to the will of God. She agreed to cooperate with God’s will … to let God accomplish His plans through her. St. Joseph, the silent one, also was submissive to God’s will as revealed in his dreams. Jesus, also, gives us an example of perfect submission when in the Garden of Gethsemane he said, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Christ, our model, the perfect man, was perfectly submissive to the Father’s will in His own life, and so should we be.

In an ironic twist, the problem of pain is actually the answer. God took what Satan gave to us to make our lives hell, and He turned it into the means of our salvation through His own suffering. Then He asked us to join with Him in His suffering.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said on several occasions that one of the greatest tragedies in America was what he called “wasted suffering.” People would endure suffering to no purpose. St. Andre Bessette once said that suffering is so precious to God that it can only be repaid in heaven. We shouldn’t waste this great treasure.

When you suffer (and you will), offer it up. Make your Morning Offering every day. Offer it up for yourself, your family, your enemies(!), and you will receive precious graces here on earth and store up great treasures in heaven. Blessed be God forever!