Many of us are still stunned by the horrific events that happened at Fort Hood and perhaps we are still concerned if it could happen again on another post or even here at Fort Gordon. While the president and his generals vow that they will do whatever they can in their power to ensure that this tragedy is not repeated, we know that none of us in this life can ever be completely immune to suffering. In The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, suffering is defined as “any experience that impinges on an individual’s or a community’s sense of well-being and this suffering may be physical, psychological, interpersonal or spiritual.” Generally, it is a combination of all four and best understood as a condition rather than an event since it is not simply described by “sharp pains and moments of terror, but by an almost unbearable duration and inescapability.” For the person of faith, particularly for a Christian, it is into this dreadful milieu of physical, emotional and spiritual suffering that God’s sovereign grace speaks life and peace. In fact, we would be well to remember that this is the crux of the gospel of grace: that Jesus, as the suffering servant, suffers death and the consequences of sin for us.

Even as such, the “why” of suffering seems always to be lurking in the background of even the strongest of believers during a time of crisis? Why is my mother dying of cancer? Why did my baby have to be born with congenital anomalies? Why doesn’t a loving and powerful God intervene in the life of a young Soldier with 80 percent burns upon his body? Sometimes these “why” questions lead us to ask the “what” and “who” questions of suffering: What caused this illness? Who caused this illness? Was it God? And if so, how do we reconcile this awful reality with the awe-inspiring knowledge of a loving God? This apparent paradox begs the question: In the face of evil and suffering, is God just?

For years, pastors and theologians have proposed answers to this seminal question under the study of theodicy. For example, Thomas Oden in his book, Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry, summarizes these theological tensions in what he terms the “Perplexing Triangle.” He states that there are three sides to keep in mind:

1. God is unsurpassably good. 2. God is incomparably powerful.

3. Suffering and evil nonetheless exist, but why?

Oden continues by rejecting three “premature and deficient, but tempting ‘solutions’” to the problem:

1. The failure to look candidly at the reality of evil.

2. To give up on the Christian affirmation of the insurmountable goodness of God.

3. To limit, so to speak, God’s power to overcome evil.

Oden states, “Each of these premature answers grasps two sides of the triangle, but misses the full affirmation of the third.”

Classical Christian theology simultaneously affirms all three: “The Almighty God, unsurpassable in benevolence allows conditions and contingencies to occur that by abuse of freedom result in real evil and suffering, yet God’s incomparable love and power are not diminished.”

Regardless of our articulation of these truths, at the very least, we would do well to begin with humility before this divine mystery. As recorded in the Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich once said:

Our Lord has pity and compassion on us, because there are some of us who are so busy ourselves in his secret purposes; I am sure if we knew how very greatly we would please him and ease ourselves by abandoning this curiosity, we would do so. The saints who are in heaven will know nothing but what our Lord wills to show them.

While questions of God’s justice may still remain in our minds and while our hearts may be spiritually weary, my prayer is that we also humbly allow the Lord to shape our faith in the face of suffering.