The Problem of Evil: Homily for September 14, 2025

Our world seems to have no limit to showing us evil. It is all around us. But, as Catholics we take the greatest evil, the crucifixion of evil, and we exalt it. This perfect act of love makes our salvation possible. Readings for Today.

The Problem of Evil

A school shooting in Minneapolis. A school shooting in Evergreen, Colorado. The murder of Charlie Kirk. The countless victims of shootings and crime. The record-breaking attack of Russia on Ukraine. Children dying in Gaza. A loved one gets diagnosed with a terminal illness.

These are just a few of the experiences of evil we see around us. And because of the Internet, we are able to witness, at least via online news, these events in real time. Even though these events can occur thousands and thousands of miles from where we are, they can touch us as if they occurred just down the street.

And in the midst of all of these tragic events, there is also the reality of the shortcomings of our own personal failures. We can easily recognize that we are ourselves, broken. We sin, and while maybe not in dramatic ways, we too contribute to the evil in the world.

With all these events, those around us and our own individual actions, it can be easy to give into despair. The world feels like it is getting worse and worse. We can feel less and less safe. And we can see no easy way we ourselves can contribute to things getting better.

But is this true? Are we helpless? Is it the case that we are powerless to do anything to make the world a better place? Is there no one who can lead to fulfillment and happiness? Is there no one who can give us hope?

Of course, the answer is that there is someone who can give us hope, because he has already done so. This person is Jesus. And today we celebrate the reason why we know this is true. We celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross. This profound act of evil, the crucifixion of Jesus becomes something we not only acknowledge, but we do so in exultation.

 To be honest, crucifixion on the cross was a horrible way to die. The Romans (and others) developed this means of execution not only as a method to kill another, but to do so in a way that was as painful as possible. And it was meant to be as shameful as possible.

It could be seen as a cause of despair for the followers of Jesus to give up after this horrible event. Indeed many of the Jews had difficulty hearing the preaching of Saint Paul because he was preaching not just a Messiah, but a crucified Messiah.

How is it we can exalt event such as this? How can we see this event not as a failure but as a triumph? How is it this act of evil can be seen as the way evil was overcome?

It is because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Called the Paschal Mystery, the totality of the Incarnation, the Passion and the Resurrection is the singular event that leads to our salvation.

The garden of Gethsemane is that moment that provides the clue to the overcoming of evil. It is in our submission to the will of God. By imitating Jesus, who was always about doing the work and will of the Father, we too can triumph over those things that seem impossible.

To be sure, the problem of evil is the biggest challenge to having faith in Jesus. This is not just my saying it, but the great St. Thomas Aquinas. He said the problem of evil was the biggest challenge to believing in God. It is not hard to see why.

In the face of powerful evil it is understandable the first answer is to ask, “Why?” Why did this happen to me? Why am I suffering this and not someone else? In the face of evil, we can feel God does not love us, or that God is not all-powerful.

But the Exaltation of the Cross requires us to turn things upside down. When he was speaking to Italian prison chaplains, Pope Francis explained his interest in meeting with those who were in prison. Rather than asking, “Why me?”, he asked “Why them?” “Why them and not me?”

His point was that he had so many blessings in his life. He had two parents who loved him and were present to him. He had parents who taught him to value learning. He had two parents who provided him all that he needed, even if he did not get all that he wanted. He realized that he had too many blessings to feel sorry for the difficulties in his own life.

And so, the challenge for us on this day is to recognize that God has blessed us in so many ways, many of which we take for granted. We can walk. We can see. We can hear. We can eat. We have shelter. And compared to many others in the world, we have pretty good blessings.

Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches us about the two ways things get willed by God. There is his direct will. God wills someone to be a priest or religious. God wills two people to get married. God wills us to be generous. This direct will of God always leads to good.

But there is also God’s permissive will. That is, there are some things God permits because in his infinite wisdom God knows he can bring about something greater. Some greater good.

Today’s feast is a good example. God permits the evil of the Cross because it leads to our salvation, a greater good. We can find ourselves at times being able to look back in our life of something that was difficult to get through, only to discover later that something good can come from it.

But what about those times when the good that can come from something evil does not appear to lead to something good? It is here that we need to have faith in God. It becomes something that we must find the faith the enables us to fully trust that God loves us, especially in this evil.

In the garden of Gethsemane we see the complete abandonment of Jesus. He is alone. In receiving the difficulty of the world’s sins he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

And so it is never the case that Jesus does not understand evil. Nor is it the case the Jesus experienced evil because of his sin. Jesus withstood and fought against evil never losing his desire to do whatever God the father wanted?

I will end by suggesting two things that can help us in the face of the evil we see. First, count your blessings. Especially those you never think about because they seem so ordinary. This helps us to see more clearly the many ways God blesses us.Secondly, be a person of hope. Hope is not simply a naïve belief that everything will be ok, or that we will get the present at Christmas that we want. No, hope is that virtue that helps us to see that we are beloved sons and daughters of God, those loved people that God longs to live with forever.

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