The Real Answer to Why God Allows Suffering

Playing a video game called Injustice helps Fr. Mike explain the
real answer to why God allows suffering. In Injustice, Superman
becomes a totalitarian dictator in his attempt to try and eliminate
evil. Batman tries to tell him, in trying to eliminate evil he has
ceased to do good, because without the freedom to choose evil, we
don’t really have the freedom to choose good either. Couldn’t God
do better than Superman though? Couldn’t he just fix everything by
bringing us back to the Garden of Eden? Anyone who is a parent
knows that doesn’t work because God’s children—us—would just mess
up again. So what does God actually do? He doesn’t eliminate evil.
He draws close to us in the midst of evil. He suffers a painful
death. He descends to the depths of hell. He doesn’t take away
suffering. He transforms it and redeems it by entering into it.
This led St. Paul to say: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your
sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s
afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church”
(Colossians 1:24). St. John Paul II said in suffering we receive a
sliver of the Cross. Our suffering matters because Christ’s
suffering matters and we are his body. All we have to do is tell
God to use our suffering. Nothing given to God is ever wasted, so
give it to God.