Untimely Death
Nov 21, 2006
By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
19/11/2006
When a beautiful young woman in the public eye dies at the age of 32, we lament an unexpected loss. We feel for her after 8 years of struggle; her life cut short before her time and feel especially for her husband.
Cancer can and does strike indiscriminately. It seems unfair. Why does God allow such a tragedy and even worse tragedies?
What Christians do when people suffer is more important than what we say, although Christian teaching does (or can) bring light and strength.
First of all Christians are not fatalists, who believe that suffering or sickness should be allowed to run its course. We do all we can, we battle against disease with the best science and medicine have to offer. Christian parishioners regularly support one another in times of tragedy. Indeed Christianity spread because of the way Christians cared for their sick.
Even today people can be tempted to think mistakenly that God is punishing them when a disaster occurs. In the past some Jews believed that misfortune struck a person because he or his ancestors had sinned. But Jesus himself explained that this was not the case, as good people suffer unexpectedly too.
Life is mysterious and sometimes brutal, like the death of any young person in an accident, from cancer, from cot death. Those who are sick not only have to battle the physical pain, but often depression and loneliness too. Loving support makes a world of difference in these situations.
One of Christ’s strangest teachings is the beatitude: “Blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted”, because it is difficult to see sadness as a blessing! It often seems more like a curse.
Part of the answer lies in Christ’s promise that heaven exists, where our mourning will be turned to gladness, and where those who suffered more than their share in this life will be recompensed.
As a child I was tempted to think of God as a stern judge, like a strict remote headmaster, who might even punish me unfairly. But this was a mistake.
God is a judge, but He is completely fair and more compassionate and understanding than we can imagine. Christ’s parable of the prodigal son’s father shows us what God is like. God heals victims, forgives sinners and balances out the scales of justice in eternity.
Christians also have another strange belief, which I have found regularly helps people in times of sadness, whether they have deep faith or almost no faith. We believe that God’s only Son suffered, especially when he was crucified, killed on a cross. Jesus was a fellow sufferer, but he later rose from the dead.
In the worst suffering, in the darkest night, hope can be found because God is good, just and will not let death, evil and suffering have the last word.
Untimely Death