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"I have come that they may have life and have it to the full" (John 10.10)
At midweek I thought I had a decent start to a homily about the abundant life we have in Jesus Christ. The wedding feast, the transformation of water into wine set in the context of John's Gospel led me in that direction.
But then there is Haiti.
So much, it seems, for abundant life. The hour by hour, day by day, overwhelming images of death and destruction and the awareness that this is a people for whom suffering is nothing new are a heart-wrenching plunge into the deepest questions of the human spirit.
I don't know how we - living in safety, in relative prosperity, among our loved ones - can face these questions in a realistic way. We are reduced to expressions or horror and of hope. So I don't pretend to offer answers, just some thoughts.
"Where is God in all this?
One TV Evangelist asserted that the earthquake was God's response to a "pact with the Devil" some two hundred years ago. What an obscene comment, a blasphemy against God, however sincere the commentator may have been.
I can't believe that God is out there somewhere, manipulating natural and human events from the outside, punishing a beloved creation. We must have grown beyond that primitive projection of human wrath on the Divine.
So where is God? Let me suggest that the Lover of humanity is with the beloved. We learn in Jesus that God casts His lot with the suffering, the poor, the hurting. Jesus identifies himself with the homeless, the naked, the hungry, the sick and imprisoned. How can we not seek God among the victims of the earthquake, the longsuffering, long neglected people of Haiti?
And there is that of God in the loving response of those who pour resources, human and material, into caring for the folks in need. The awful things happen, but they have the capacity to arouse the best of human ability to reach out in love. God is present in those who hurt and in those who help, for where charity and love abide, there is God.
The painful questions still exist. Why? Suffering remains a mystery to be pondered. For some it will be an obstacle to faith. One cannot judge folks who find it hard to move beyond the question. But for others, suffering drives them into the arms of the Lover of humanity, finding refuge and hope precisely in faith.
Even if it makes no human sense, I believe in the abundance of life in Jesus Christ, in his identification with those for whom the world has no room, in the compassion and care exercised in his name. And I find hope in the prophetic words of Isaiah, who in another time and place assured the people:
"No more shall people call you 'forsaken'.
or your land 'desolate',
but you shall be called 'My Delight',
and your land, 'Espoused".
For the Lord delights in you."
May it be so, Lord, for the people of Haiti -
and for all of us.
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