Preparations are under way throughout much of the East Coast of the United States for the arrival of Hurricane Florence. Houses are being boarded up, supplies are being purchased and evacuation plans are being executed. Meanwhile “fire and brimstone” preachers throughout the country are preparing their sermons about Florence bringing with her the strong winds of Divine Wrath. These foreboding missives usually greatly miss their mark and bring with them not fear, but mirth, as both the world and Christians alike laugh at them. Hilarity, that is, until they realize that these prophets of gloom might actually have a point, even if they have failed typesetting their message in its proper context.
We cannot be too quick to dismiss these preachers of peril. Be it earthquakes (c.f. Ps 17:8, Is 13:13), droughts (c.f. Jer 3:2), floods or calamities in general (c.f. Is 24:5), Scripture is unambiguous in its account of God using natural calamities in order to punish sinners. Plus, we find a similar echo among the preaching of the saints. St. Basil said, that “No one troubles himself about inquiring why drought, lightning, hail, are sent down upon us; they are sent us on account of our sins and because we preserve an impenitent heart.” St. Anselm meanwhile suggested that “By offending God we not only excite His anger but the anger of all creation.” We could multiply the examples, but the point is that there is an important truth that needs to be heard.
Setting the Proper Context
The problem then is not that what they are saying is untrue, it is that it lacks the proper context. At the heart of the Christian message is a point that is so foundational that we can easily overlook it. Death, although considered an evil in itself, is not the worst thing that can happen to you. The worst thing that can happen to you is that you end up in hell. But there is, of course, the flip side of that coin. The best thing that could possibly happen to you is to enter into Eternal Life with God. What this means for the question at hand is that there really can be no meaningful discussion about “innocent children” who are killed. They will get their reward. A reward that, when they look back on their suffering and untimely death, will make those things seem so disproportionately small compared to the bliss they are enjoying. They will even be grateful it happened because it was the doorway into their present state. No sane person would ever complain that their liberator was too rough in granting them free from captivity.
Likewise those who die in unrepentance also receive what they deserve. But even their death is a mercy. God knows that they will continue to go on sinning only increasing their sufferings in hell. So, in His abundant mercy, He puts an end to it so that they do no further harm to themselves. He also puts an end to not only their offense against Him, but their offense against their neighbors whom they invite into sin with them. Both justice and mercy at all times. But we must also look to the survivors, both “innocent” and guilty alike. How can we reconcile this aspect of punishment with the tremendous sufferings that they will have to endure?
Just as our imaginary interlocutor makes the distinction between the dead and the survivors, so too must we mark the difference between the living and the dead. For those that die, their punishment or lack thereof is eternal. But temporal punishments are wholly different. God issues those for the express purpose of leading to the individual to conversion. As the Doctor of the Church St. Alphonsus Liguori put it, “my brethren, let us convince ourselves of what I have undertaken to show you today, namely, that God does not afflict us in this life for our injury but for our good, in order that we may cease from sin, and by recovering His grace escape eternal punishment.” As the tolerant and loving Messiah once told us: the path to destruction is wide so that He must at times give a foretaste of this destruction in order that people will rebuild on the narrow path (c.f Mt 7:13). Comfort in this fallen world rarely leads to comfort in the next.
The Good News and the Bad News
Denial of what has been said so far amounts to a denial of another foundational element of the Christian message—the Good News is really that includes the bad news. Sufferings are inevitable in this world, but Christ liberated us from, not suffering, but useless suffering. But it is only useful when it is accepted in a spirit of penance. Otherwise it does have an air of cruelty about it, but only in our steady refusal of reality. United with Christ however it carries with it the fragrance of freedom.
This is why the objection that these natural disasters seem rather indiscriminant won’t do. They are part and parcel to God’s Providence. Contained within the chaos of the calamity, are personal invitations to penance. Penance that comes from the hands of God not only pays a debt to Divine justice, but heals the effects of the sin within each individual person. The sufferings are only to the degree that they are needed for this purpose and no more. There is both justice and mercy, neither of which can exist without the other.
For those outside the path of the hurricane, I close with a quote from gentle Jesus. When His disciples asked him about the fate of a group of calamitous Galileans, He warned them “unless you do penance, you will likewise perish” (Lk 13:3). The circumstances are different, but the invitation remains the same—do penance so that you can enter into eternal life. The Hound of Heaven will not cease to hunt you until you are safely within the room of His Father’s house.