PART TWO
I
God has a singular response to all this evil in his Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen.
Right before Jesus raised Lazarus there is a very powerful line, “And Jesus wept.” (Jn 11:35) Many interpret this as Jesus weeping for the overall human tragedy that is permeated with evil and sin. It is not hard to see Jesus embracing the father who lost his child, sharing his tears with him and all parents. This is intimately connected to the crisis of the Garden about evading the Father’s will. The Father sent Jesus to reveal a God of life and love who will prevail in spite of the power of evil and death. Jesus confronted this evil and in so doing embraced the child’s father and all of us with the only consolation that is real and hopeful, the Resurrection.
When we look at evil in the dead body of a child or in so many other overwhelming expressions of unfathomable horror and abomination, God’s response is the Crucified Christ. He sent Jesus to enter into the evil, to share with us and to walk with us in this valley of tears. But this is not the final word. God has spoken and His final word is not death and meaningless suffering, not violence and hatred. God’s final word is life and love, peace and reconciliation. All of this is captured in the mystery of the Resurrection and its song of victory, the Alleluia.
This is why we need to learn to hear and see, and most of all, experience the response of God to our prayer by faith in Jesus. He is the Incarnate expression of love in the deepest depths of the mystery of good and evil. The Alleluia is the final word but it is not an answer. It is an invitation into a new reality of grace and love that leaves evil immobilized and conquered. For the final answer we await the second coming. In the meanwhile, we need to live in faith, hope and love with the ambiguity of the weeds and the wheat.
II
In 1970, St. Teresa of Avila was named the first woman Doctor of the Church. She earned this title because she experienced reality as the most genuine and authentic manifestation of a loving God calling us into love. She understood that God has a better plan. She saw the plan of God’s Kingdom as the ultimate desire of her heart freed by a journey of personal and purifying prayer. She expressed this in her writings. One little prayer found in her daily prayer book captured her vision in a most enchanting way.
Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing.
God only is changeless.
Patience gains all things.
Who has God wants for nothing.
God alone suffices.
For many of us this is a very comforting prayer. However, when the inevitable conflicts and insecurities of life engulf us anew, the comfort of this prayer goes out the window in a hurry.
Most of us lack the profound faith, hope and love displayed in Teresa’s stunning expression of her relationship with God. We are on a pilgrimage. We have a long way to go. This prayer of St. Teresa is a reminder that God really does have a better plan. The Alleluia tells us love will win out. We need to keep our eyes and our heart on Jesus.
