{"id":6481,"date":"2020-04-02T15:29:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T20:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=6481"},"modified":"2020-04-02T15:47:05","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T20:47:05","slug":"wheres-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wheres-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s God?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Well, it finally happened. I have a friend who is seriously\nill with the Coronavirus.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Till now it has been a distant menace that I hoped my\nfriends and family could avoid. The pandemic was a map\non TV of \u201cvirus hot spots\u201d and growing numbers. \u201cGlad\nI\u2019m not THERE<\/strong>\u201d, I thought as I looked at the big red\ncircle over New York City.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was yesterday. Today it\u2019s personal. Ted, I\u2019m praying for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

So dear friend . . . I\u2019m sure you have your own story developing during these tense days. One of the questions many people are asking is \u201cWhere is God?\u201d. And \u201cWhy would God let this happen?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, it brings up a whole big question about the world and suffering and the \u201cGoodness\u201d of God. Or more simply put . . . \u201cWhat are you doing God?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you find your faith tested in this way? Perhaps it\u2019s time for us to look a bit deeper into some misconceptions we\u2019ve been living with for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Some misconceptions: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. God should behave the way I think he should. After all, I\u2019m a good guy. I know right from wrong, good from bad. Why doesn\u2019t God do what I would do – – take away the bad things in this world (like this virus)? He certainly has the power. Why won\u2019t he use it now to take this away? <\/li>
  2. God made us to be \u201chappy\u201d. Everybody wants that in their life. Well, guess what? . . . this is not making me happy. I feel cheated. <\/li>
  3. Suffering is bad. There should be no suffering. Fix it God. <\/li>
  4. It seems we\u2019ve been left alone to figure this out all by ourselves. Why doesn\u2019t God give us the antidote? Now! <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I think we\u2019ve all encouraged these thoughts about how\nGod should act. Our prayers frequently tell him what he\nshould do. (He NEVER <\/strong>listened to my insisting he let the\nCleveland Indians win the World Series.)\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So what does real Catholic Faith say about these questions and feelings? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Response to misconceptions 1-4 above: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. This is a big mistake and sends us in a totally wrong direction. WE are not the measure of how things should go. We are \u201ccreatures\u201d called into existence by God. Everything we have (our very existence) comes from Him. \u201cFor my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways.\u201d Isaiah 55:8,9<\/a>. We exist because of his loving will. That will we pray \u201cbe done. On Earth, as it is in heaven.\u201d Did God send the virus? No. But God\u2019s \u201cfix\u201d for it is not necessarily what ours would be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Yes, God made us to \u201cknow, love and serve Him in this life; and be happy with Him in the next.\u201d Baltimore Catechism. But, this \u201chappiness\u201d (the bible uses \u201cjoy\u201d or \u201cglory\u201d) comes in being united with God\u2019s holy will. And what is His holy will? That we image Christ. That\u2019s the happiness the world cannot take away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Yes suffering is bad . . . by itself. Jesus spent his life healing and relieving suffering. But it changes when it is endured for reasons of love. Christ crucified is God\u2019s highest example of this kind of love. \u201cNo greater love than this has one that they lay down their life . . .\u201d John 15:13<\/a>. Share my suffering says Jesus, and you will share my joy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. All alone? No we\u2019re not! We have each other. That\u2019s\nthe second part of this creature we are. We belong to\neach other. God made us that way. That\u2019s why we\nlaugh and cry at the same things. That\u2019s where the\nmiracle of compassion comes from. (Ever choke up\nseeing a child lost and crying for their mother?) We\ncry together! We\u2019re all together in this.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lastly, God made us free. What a wonderful gift. We are\nfree to love (or not), to give (or not), to give thanks (or\nnot). God did not make us puppets. He offers us the joy of\nworking freely with him to bring about His Kingdom.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I hope we can use this time of suffering to open ourselves\nto the mystery of God\u2019s love for us and His plan for\nbringing light out of this darkness.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Don\u2019t be afraid.
    Fr. Tim <\/p>\n    \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Well, it finally happened. I have a friend who is seriously ill with the Coronavirus. Till now it has been a distant menace that I hoped my friends and family could avoid. The pandemic was a map on TV of \u201cvirus hot spots\u201d and growing numbers. \u201cGlad I\u2019m not THERE\u201d, I thought as I looked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6481"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6486,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6481\/revisions\/6486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}