One of the greatest challenges the Catholic faithful all over the world face during the Lenten season is the reality of evil and suffering. Christians are baffled by the seeming contradiction between the existence of a loving God and the fact of evil. When we ourselves are suffering, we tend to lose faith. How could a good God allow us to suffer pain? Couldn’t God have created a world without evil and suffering?
Theologians say evil began on Earth when Satan told the first lie. Satan was originally a perfect angel, but “he did not stand fast in the truth”. Satan lied to the first woman, Eve, and persuaded her to obey him instead of God. Adam joined Eve in disobeying God—a decision that led to suffering and death.
Man created his destruction and suffering. But God sent his only begotten son to save mankind. In the words of Pope Francis, “Jesus is a Messiah who comes in the guise of a servant, the servant of God and of man, and goes to His passion. He is the great ‘patient’, who suffers all the pain of humanity.”
Pope Francis said on Palm Sunday that, as Holy Week begins, we should contemplate not only the glory with which Jesus is recognized as king as he enters Jerusalem, but also the suffering He endures before His death, and which is seen in the many citizens of the world who suffer due to war, violence and slavery.
As the Pontiff said, “Jesus is present in our many brothers and sisters who today endure sufferings like his own: They suffer from wars and terrorism, slave labor, from family tragedies, from diseases.”
The Pope’s words came at the same time a bomb attack took place on the Coptic Christian Church of Mar Gerges in the northern city of Tanta, Egypt, as worshippers packed the area to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass. According to the Associated Press, at least 21 were killed and around 40 others wounded in the blast.
“Jesus is in them, in each of them, and, with marred features and broken voice, He asks to be looked in the eye, to be acknowledged, to be loved,” the Pope said.
The presence of God in each of these brothers and sisters is not “some other Jesus”, the Pope said, but is “the same Jesus who entered Jerusalem amid the waving of palm branches. It is the same Jesus who was nailed to the cross and died between two criminals.”
As we listen to the crowd joyfully acclaim Jesus as our King, let us also reflect on “the slanders and insults, the snares and betrayals, the abandonment to an unjust judgment, the blows, the lashes and the crown of thorns, and last, the way of the cross leading to the crucifixion,” the Pope said.
There are kinds of suffering that crush humans in spirit. Phil Zylla, a Canadian theologian, talks about the different dimensions of suffering: The physical, the psychological, the social and the spiritual. The physical refers to the bearing of pain, while psychological is a sense of loss or, sometimes, trauma. Social suffering refers to becoming a social outcast, social degradation, or shame. Finally, spiritual suffering can lead to despondency.
There’s no easy answer to any question about human suffering. But, as in the Passion of Christ, it’s an assurance of God’s compassion and God’s presence with the suffering person. And the resurrection assures us that God can be found in the one who is suffering, even when it seems like a Godless situation.