Theological Journal - April 2: Where is God in thos pandemic?
French poet, Paul Claudel, wrote, “Jesus did not come to remove suffering, or to explain it away. He came to fill it with His presence.” Oh, yes, it’s his presence we want right now. A glimpse of him in the chaotic darkness swirling around us. Please, Lord, just a glimpse. But where are we to look? What is the sign of his presence? There’s only one really. Just one sure place to look for him. It’s all we’re given. It’s all he has to give. Yet it is enough. More than enough. Far more than enough. Yet some hopes for where we might find him we have to give up on. There are false leads to his presence that are really dead ends. Claudel names two of the most common: hoping -Jesus will remove us from what distresses us, or -he will explain things so they make sense to us. Well, the first is not Jesus’ way and the second can’t be done, not even by God. If we learn anything from Jesus, it’s that suffering, evil, and chaos cannot be avoided or evaded. It must...