In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.



Happy Easter to you all! This Easter weekend is the 10th anniversary of my baptism. Indeed, these ten years seem to have gone by in a flash, and yet much has happened. During these ten years, I backslided from Christ. But at the moment when I needed Him most, He reaches out his hand and gave me back my life. No questions asked. I often quote Psalm 118:23 to myself: "This is the Lord's doing; and it is marvelous in our eyes!"

The Lord forgave me so thoroughly that my guilt is in itself my sin. After all, if one cannot forgive oneself, one cannot begin to forgive others. The source of forgiveness is love. "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16). Therefore, the source of forgiveness is from God. What I am saying is that before forgiveness comes love.

The Lord moved the spirit of love in me by all those unfortunate events. After stacking guilt upon guilt, believing in my own human strength to bear my own sins, He has thought me how to love again, beginning with myself, then towards others.

Next: Suffering in this world. Time and time again, people ask, "If God exists, why is there still suffering in this world?"

We must understand that God is not the cause of suffering in our world. Suffering comes from the sins of humankind. As a result of one's selfishness, for example, others are made to suffer. The injustices caused by the sinful against God's holy people (and therefore to God) is the sole source of this suffering.

The cause of human suffering is our very own disobedience towards God. Because God gave us free will, we are free to choose between the good and the bad. We become responsible for our actions and therefore must also assume the respective consequences of good and bad actions. If we choose to live in God, a life of sanctity and human dignity, the chances are that we will live in God's graces, being bestowed upon by God the necessities for a purpose-driven life in Him. However, if we choose the path of evil, we will end up causing suffering to others and ourselves.

Of course, while He gave us free will, He never leaves us to this free will without a word of advice or warning. Imagine that you're a parent of child who so very much wants to learn to skate. Would you let him? Of course. We are all very open-minded today. However, there are consequences of the child learning skating: he may get into an accident and be hurt. You know the chances of this happening is high, whatever the degree of hurt the accident may cause. Would you still let him? Of course. But you would let him learn skating only after a parental word of advice: "Be careful", "Don't try to be a hero", etc. Likewise, God advises and warns us beforehand about the consequences of sin: suffering. He does not stop us from causing others hurt.

The other cause for suffering is original sin (Genesis 3:17-19). I will not go into this part of the discussion because I want to discuss about Original Sin in a forthcoming entry here. However, I'll just say this: suffering can also be caused by the inherent imperfect nature of the human being. This imperfect nature is caused by original sin.

Simply put, we humans have the tendency to sin because our vulnerability to the devil's tricks. Even so, our sins can cause others and ourselves to suffer. (The only way to get around original sin is through baptism.)

I believe that the world's suffering can be lessened because God believes in all humankind. We know this because He calls all the world to be His people.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.