When God Permits A Plague

As I write this post, the non-stop frenzy over the spread of COVID-19 (aka "coronavirus") continues. Officially recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC), it is shutting down entire countries and playing havoc with national economies. A couple of weeks ago, one of my long-time readers asked me in the comments section to explain the Catholic response to the pandemic. I gave a response in which I offered my opinion, and I stated there is no "Catholic position" on the outbreak of a disease. Her question kept me thinking, even as I find myself working from home and using Skype with clients. I think a bigger question underlying this threat (and the concomitant hysteria), is "Why does God permit such evil?"

People begin to question God's omni-benevolence. Why does God permit such things, and why doesn't He stop them, or at least save the good people? This is known as the problem of theodicy (i.e., "the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil"). The problem felt by all of us at some point, to one extent or another, is formulated as: (1) If God is all good He would want to stop evil; (2) If God is all powerful (omnipotent) He can stop evil; however, evil exists. Therefore, there is no all good and all powerful God. This post will examine theodicy, and how to make sense of this evil pandemic.

God is Good in Spite of Evil's Existence

Merely attempting to answer how God's goodness and power are reconcilable with COVID-19, can seem insensitive and uncaring, especially because so many people have been affected by this disease. If you, or a loved one, have suffered in any way because of the coronavirus, please know that I am deeply sorry for your experience. Our first response as Traditionalists is to empathize with those who suffer, and most especially, if they are also members of the One True Church. St. Paul writes under Divine Inspiration in Romans 12:15, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." After empathizing with, praying for, and helping those who suffer, we must be prepared to answer their questions about how a good God can permit such evil. "But in thy hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks thee to give the reason for the hope that thou hast. But do this with gentleness and respect..." (1 Peter 3:15).
Many points in this post were culled from Thomistic philosophy sources, most especially-- See theologian and philosopher Grenier, Thomistic Philosophy, [1948], 2:11-20 and 2:359-364.

1. God is not the cause of evil.
It seems as though God must be the cause of evil. Since God is the Creator of all things, and evil is something, does it not logically follow that God created evil? In a word: NO. The reply is found by defining the word "thing." In Thomistic terms, a thing is a substance, or a thing in itself. We must concede that God created all substances, but we need not agree that there are evil substances. The question naturally arises, "How can evil be real but not a "thing," or a substance?" The answer lies in the fact that evil is the real privation, lack, or corruption of something good. A couple of analogies may help illustrate this point:

• Evil is like having a wound in your leg. The wound does not exist in itself, rather it exists in something good, i.e., a leg. Anyone who had a wounded leg knows the wound is real, but the wound does not exist apart from the leg.

• Evil is like a sweater with holes in it from moths. The holes do not exist apart from the sweater. It is a lack of material. A totally moth eaten garment would no longer exist. Hence, evil is a real corruption, but not a real substance. 

2. Evil is not only a lack of good.

In order for a privation to be evil, it must be something the substance should possess. For example, neither rocks nor blind people have the ability to see. However, there is no privation of sight in the rock because rocks are not meant to see; yet people are supposed to see by nature. For a human being to be blind, it is a physical evil, but the absence of sight in a rock is not evil because there is nothing lacking in its nature. 

3. If God is not the cause of evil, from whence does it originate?

 Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of evil, moral evil (e.g., murder, rape, lying, etc.) which is the direct result of the abuse of free will, and there is physical evil (e.g., hurricanes, fires, floods, famine, diseases, etc.). God is free to create any world He wished (His free will), and He chose this world. As to moral evil, it began with the abuse of our First Parents free will when they committed Original Sin. It affected everything. People are now inclined to do evil. Satan and his demons were angels who abused their free will and rejected God. 

God wanted to create a world of free beings who choose to be with Him. God the Son, Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, became Man and suffered, died, and rose from the dead. He redeemed us and founded His One True Church whereby people can be saved and escape evil forever in Heaven. This is why moral evil exists: the possibility of the abuse of free will. There is also the possibility of salvation offered to all.

The objection then arises: What are we to make of the billions who did not have the opportunity to believe through no fault of their own? A possible solution is God wants as many people as possible to be saved and He wants as few as possible to be lost. So what God has done is to create a world having an optimal balance between saved and lost. A world that involves the maximum number of saved for the minimum number of lost people. And he gives sufficient grace for salvation to everyone whom He creates. Everyone can be saved if they want to be saved. Perhaps God has so ordered the world that those who never hear about Christ and the Church and are lost are only people who would not have believed in Him even if they had heard about it. In other words, anyone who would have believed and entered the Church to be saved if he heard it, is born at a time and place in history where he does hear it. 

 The logical objection would be, "So isn't it more merciful not to create such a person in the first place if God knows they freely choose damnation?" To this it can be replied that if you change one thing in this world, it will have repercussions on everything else. Who knows how the absence of those people would affect the salvation of others? Remember too, people are only lost through their own fault.

4. How do you explain physical evils?

Physical evil is connected directly or indirectly to the agency of free, rational creatures who are moral agents. There are nine (9) ways physical evil is caused in the world.

• Self-infliction. Many people choose to abuse drugs, alcohol, practice unnatural sex acts, smoke, overeat, etc. All these things can cause disease, suffering, and an early death (not to mention causing moral evils on society)

• Indirect result of free choice. While no one wants to be poor, many people choose not to use their God-given talents and are lazy. They don't want to work very hard, get an education, or do as much as they can. I was born in poverty, and it took a lot of hard work to become a middle school science teacher, and then a lawyer. I worked many hard jobs while in college, teaching, in graduate school, and in law school. I then paid off my student debt in full within ten years after becoming a lawyer. Many with whom I grew up in New York City still live in poverty; many went to jail, and many died of drugs and/or alcohol. Proverbs 24: 33-34 tells us, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man."

• Indirect result from the choices of others. You may be crippled in a car accident because someone else chose to drive drunk. Our Lady of Fatima said that, "War is a punishment from God for sin." Although no one is required to believe in private revelations, it makes prefect sense. War is simply the evil men do magnified. If everyone sins and turns from God, He can allow them to go their own way. Little conflicts end up as big ones. Communism is the grand scale turning away from God. If people believed in God and followed Him, Communism would be non-existent. Even if you are not a Communist, you can suffer as a result of their actions, including wars

• Byproducts of a good process. The enjoyment of swimming can be an occasion of drowning, flying on a plane can be the occasion of a crash. Every step we take while walking could result in us tripping and breaking our necks, yet although everything has inherent dangers, no one would seriously suggest that we should never walk, drive a car, or take a plane 

• Necessary for a greater physical good for something else. The early bird gets the worm (good), but the worm gets eaten (not good for the worm). Some people in Africa may get eaten by wild animals, and although animals are not moral agents, a disordered world was caused when sin entered by Adam. In extreme circumstances, some people have cannabalized others 

• Needed for a greater moral good. Physical evils often remind us how short our time is on Earth, so we think of God and turn from sin

• Justice from God in punishing evil actions. God inflicted the plagues upon the Egyptians in their refusal to release the Jews. (See Exodus chapters 7-11)

• From Original Sin. Death and the suffering that comes with it was inflicted by the Fall. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned..." (Romans 5:12)

• The result of Satan and his demons. According to theologian Ott, "The evil spirits also seek to hurt mankind physically also, through the causing of physical evil (e.g., Tob. 3:8, Job 1:12, 1 Cor. 5: 5)."   Once more, from theologian Ott, "In some cases people are possessed, in which case the demon takes forcible possession of the human body, so that the bodily organs and the lower powers of the soul, but not the higher powers of the soul, are controlled by him. The possibility and reality of possession is firmly established by the express testimony of Christ, Who Himself drove out evil spirits and Who bestowed power over the evil spirits on His disciples (Church's power of exorcism---St. Mark 1:23; St. Luke 10: 17 et seq)." (See Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, The Mercier Press, [1955], pgs. 121-122)

Some Truths to Remember During the Pandemic

Having gone through the fundamental principles of evil, I would like you to remember these following points as we go through this pandemic:

1. Although we may not know why God permits a certain evil, God has a plan in which everything ultimately works out for the best. Just because we may not know why (we have limited intellects), God knows why, and we need to trust in Him.  Once, here in New York City, I was listening to a radio show in which a man was telling about (what he thought) was the worst day in his life. He was going to work to meet a very important client and needed to be on time. The subway was late and after he came up, he decided to take a shortcut through an alley to make up for the time delay. A man came up behind him with a gun and demanded his wallet. He handed over his wallet, and the mugger hit him over the head with his gun, rendering the man unconscious before he fled. Waking up two hours later with his head splitting and his wallet gone, he was also late for work. He suddenly realized all the panic on the street. It was September 11, 2001, and he worked in the Twin Towers. Had he been on time for work, he would have died. The mugging saved his life!

2. God is calling upon us to think about Him and what is really important in life. This is a great lesson during Lent. "In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin." (Sirach 7:40). Turn from sin and stay in God's sanctifying grace always. 

3. God is sending us a trial to see how we respond. It is an opportunity to build character. Could God be punishing humanity for its many sins?  Possibly, but you also have a chance to expiate your sins and gain great graces by offering up your mental anguish (and sickness if you [God forbid] get it) to God in reparation.

4. God has not (and will not) abandon the members of His One True Church who call upon Him. He will get us through, and give us the strength we need to face what we must. We must pray and be in the state of grace. Christ is there with us in our trials. "For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). 

Conclusion

I am most especially remembering all my readers (and their families) in my prayers, and I ask that you please do the same for me (I already remember you all every day, and also Sundays at the Most Holy Sacrifice). We need to storm Heaven with our prayers now more than ever. I think St. Vincent de Paul said it best, "When once we have placed ourselves totally in the Hands of God, we have no cause to fear misfortune; for if any should come to us, He will know how to make it turn to our good, by ways which we do not know now, but which, one day, we shall know."