Most Christians are taught to believe that God created the world to be good. However, looking at the news and at the world around us, we often see many things that don’t appear to be good: natural disasters, murder, theft, even little imperfections and daily annoyances. The problem of evil is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the Catholic faith, but it does have an answer. Many people believe that evil is its own physical entity, but in fact there is actually no such thing as pure ‘evil’ that exists in this sense. Instead, evil is simply an absence of good, much like cold is the absence of heat and darkness is the absence of light. There are two different kinds of evil: moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil results when we choose not to do good, while natural evil is the absence of perfect goodness in Creation. The book of Genesis tells us that God created the world to be good: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31 RSV). Since God is the fullness of being, and the source of all goodness, then existence itself must be good, since existence comes from God. But then why did God create a world that is not in a state of perfect existence? The Catechism states that “With infinite power God could always create something better. But with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world “in a state of journeying” towards its ultimate perfection” (CCC 310). God created a world that could grow and change. He created the laws of nature, and He allows Creation to operate according to those laws. The natural result of this is “the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature” (CCC310). The world is shaped by many different natural forces: thunderstorms, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and more. Oftentimes, these are simply the result of natural occurrences. Everything must operate according to the laws of its nature, and the laws of physics and thermodynamics have a very real effect on events like thunderstorms and volcanoes. But what about the times when people are hurt or even killed because of these events? Why does God allow this to happen? I am running out of space, so I will discuss this question more in detail next week. In the meantime, it is important to remember that “Almighty God…, because He is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself”. Even if we cannot immediately see it, even if we cannot possibly imagine how God might bring it about, we are called to trust in His infinite goodness, in His infinite power, and in His infinite love for us and for all of Creation. God took what is arguably the worst event in human history, the ultimate suffering and death of His own divine Son, and brought amazing goodness out of it–the defeat of death itself and the redemption of mankind. Surely we can trust Him to bring good out of lesser evils!

Know that I am praying for you all! If you would like to read more on this topic, I recommend starting with Genesis 1-2 and CCC 309-314. Have a blessed week!