Where the Rubber Hits the Road

The relationship of the disaster in Haiti has occupied quite a bit of recent space on this blog. In that same spirit I offer this Op Ed piece from the NYT in which James Wood delves into the subject.

A brother priest sent me the following in response to a comment from 'Martin' in the threads of the Haiti post. It contains a wisdom that expresses better than I had via a vis Christ's relationship with us and we with him. Fr. Tim H/T to Fr. MS ---------------------- I was particularly struck by Martin’s point about God not lifting any stones to rescue the victims. In the Living with Christ missalette, the introductory blurb for this coming Sunday takes Martin’s point and turns it on its head. The author, Teresa Whalen Lux, quotes St. Teresa of Avila: “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, no feet but yours.” In the Incarnation, God gave up the use of omnipotence to take on the limitations of human flesh. Because of this, we are saved THROUGH our humanity, not FROM it. We also become God’s instruments in saving the world. An incarnate God without human agency is a contradiction in terms.

The Haitian earthquake has brought to the floor a discussion about the role of evil in the world. The musings of Pat Robertson claiming that the death and destruction of that impoverished nation come from a "pact with the devil" should and has been opposed. ( Click here to read Rex Murphy's contribution or click here to read what is most likely the best response to date ) There is however one small grain of truth in his malicious claim: evil (sin) is indeed responsible for death and destruction, but this evil was wrought by human hands. Consider if you will this column from David Brooks (NY Times) in which he points out that when an earthquake of the same magnitude struck San Francisco (1989) it resulted in the death of just over 60 people. Yet the same strength event resulted in over 50,000 deaths in Haiti. What was the cause of this horrific difference? Poverty, unenforced building codes, and lack of civil services. Each of these causes can clearly be laid upon hu...

One cannot open a newspaper or watch TV without witnessing the unimaginable horror that is Haiti today. As the images of death and destruction assail us, questions about the goodness and love of God comes to the fore for any believer. Many people are using this tragedy to denounce people of faith as being fools. After all, if we believe that God is all powerful and loving, how could he permit such death and destruction? Aside from the easy response of challenging such people with the question as to whether they are willing to grant to God the responsibility for all that is good in the world as they logically must if they are going to hold him liable for all that evil, it is essential that we understand that we too are the ones responsible for the role of evil in this life. It is mankind that is as responsible for what has befallen Haiti as God. I say categorically that we are responsible for what has transpired in Haiti because it is our own participation in sin that permits evil...