What Kind of a God Would...?

'Err...Abraham, you really don't have to do that!'

The Catholic Church has always been and will always be a sign of contradiction to the World. There are times when the Church is seen by some as wholly evil, monsterous and arcane. Yet, for all of mankind's crimes, the Church never speaks of man in the same vein, even if one man is coming in for a verbal kicking from everyone else because of his crime. The Church always says that mankind is wounded because of the Fall, capable of good, capable of gross evil, but not bad, no, good, but wounded by sin. Very recently there have been a few very public, real life cases, often very tragic, heart-wrenching situations, full of grief, agony and suffering which have left the World bewildered, angry, mystified, horrified and aghast at the Church's uncompromising stance. This anger at the Church's unswerving stance on morality, though, is not really anger at the Church Herself. The anger that people feel is really summed up by this question: "What kind of a God would...?" I say this with all sincerity, the World's anger - it is just a big misunderstanding.

Why is Church teaching on issues as sensitive as abortion, euthanasia, assisted-suicide and homosexuality, or contraception so unswerving? It is because the Church, because She is Holy, refuses to compromise, in Her teaching, with evil. Church teaching on the defence of human life from conception to death, for example, in a strange way, whenever it comes into public conflict with individuals or the State, actually goes straight to the heart of what it means to be human. That is, human, rather than Divine. That is, good, but not Good. That is, to have some of the truth, but not the Fullness of Truth. The only time a child becomes hurt or angry in his studies is when he doesn't understand. I was always crap at maths and would feel jolly upset if I couldn't 'get it' and while I agree with Church teaching, there are various aspects of my life and my failures as a human being where I still don't 'get it!' It usually involves close relationships with other people.

Now, someone on the Telegraph blog, raised Catholic himself, but lapsed, asked me this evening, "Why are you a Catholic?" More or less I answered that I believe that the Church teaches, 'the Fullness of Truth'. The Gospel of St John describes Our Lord Jesus Christ thus: '...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth'. Christ established the Church on St Peter and the Apostles and promised that the Holy Spirit would lead the Church 'into all truth.' The Holy Spirit, indeed, did, and continues to guide the Church.

The anger that people feel against the Church, in a way, results from the gulf of understanding that the World has between truth...and Truth. So while the average person agrees with the law or maxim, 'Thou shalt not kill' or even, 'Love thy neighbour', we more easily succumb to the temptation to compromise with evil to obtain what we think a good outcome, over-riding the law written on our hearts in order to obtain some perceived good. God's Goodness, however and God's Truth goes beyond our comprehension, precisely because we are human. Yet in it, is God's Wisdom! In a way, and I think I am getting to the point, the reason people get so angry at the Church is because Church teaching threatens our human understanding of goodness, truth, beauty and yes, love! It threatens us because we are human and not God. So the Church, in reality, in Her teachings, contains the Fullness of Truth, and it was given to Her precisely because we cannot 'go the whole way'. We will always make compromises with truth. She makes up for what we lack! What we are not, She is. Her teaching is Perfect and Holy and we are not!

So, in the news this week there was the case of the couple who, due to terminal illness, wanted to die together by assisted suicide in Switzerland at the Dignitas clinic. In February, the Church deplored the removal of feeding tubes, sustaining the life of Eluana Englaro's in an Italian Hospital, after pressure from Ms Englaro's father whose ten year battle through the courts to have his daughter's food and hydration removed resulted in her death on February 9. And this week, the Archbishop of the Brazilian city of Recife announced the excommunication of a doctor who performed an abortion on a nine year old girl, as well as the family members who made the decision to carry out the procedure. The girl was found to be pregnant with twins recently, her stepfather having confessed that he began molesting her at the age of three and that he is the father of the child. Yet, while the World turns and the tidal waves of social, legislative and moral upheaval sweep across the World, they crash against the Church, and the Church, built on rock, stands firm.

So, I know the Catholic Church in England and Wales did not speak out very much about the trend in people going to Dignitas to be euthanised, but, it would have if it had more courage. There are a lot of things the Catholic Church in England and Wales is not saying that it should be saying. Maybe that's why the Holy Father isn't so keen on a visit, I don't know, I'm just speculating. Anyway, I'm digressing...

• What kind of a God would want terminally ill people to suffer cancer/dementia/another terminal illness and not end their own sufferings quickly at the hands of others?

• What kind of a God would not want the feeding tube removed from a woman who has no sign of recovery from a vegetative state, when all realistic hope of recovery is lost?

• What kind of a God would want a 9-year-old girl to go through with her pregnancy and give birth to twins, the parentage of whom, is her own stepfather and not to have the 4 month old unborn babies aborted for the sake of the 9-year-old's health?

Now, it is time for me to confess. For I suffer from the same sin. This issue is all about the battle between our human concept of love and Divine Love and the gulf that exists between them. This is about the battle taking place in human hearts, agonising over their lives and the lives of loved ones, about who is in control of human life. We can see that we have been given the Law 'Thou shalt not kill' and all these cases break it. But this is not just about the Law, though it is linked. Take a look at the picture of Abraham just about to sacrifice his only son for God and the Angel grabbing his wrist. It is horrendous isn't it?

• What kind of a God would ask Abraham to bring his only son to Him and to kill him as a sacrifice, only to send the Angel to grab the wrist of the poor man once He saw that Abraham really...trusted Him?

For the moral battles highlighted above are about the Law of God, but they are also about trust in God. When our Worlds are falling around our eyes and ears, when those we love suffer pain we want to help alleviate suffering, our own or those of loved ones, we feel out of control, we feel helpless, we feel they are helpless. "What can we do?" "We must help!" "The only thing I can do is pray for I am powerless to do anything else!" "To see you suffer is unbearable!" "You who I loved all my life are dying slowly before my eyes and there is nothing I can do!" "All I can do is pray and my heart is being ripped out from my chest from your suffering!" "I would rather die myself than see you suffer one moment more!" "I want to take matters into my hands!" "My God! This is more than I can bear!" These are our deepest thoughts and emotions.

So, what kind of a God would...?



"What can we do?" "We must help!" "The only thing I can do is pray for I am powerless to do anything else!" "To see you suffer is unbearable!" "You who I loved all my life are dying slowly before my eyes and there is nothing I can do!" "All I can do is pray and my heart is being ripped out from my chest from your suffering!" "I would rather die myself than see you suffer one moment more!" "I want to take matters into my hands!" "My God! This is more than I can bear!"

Yes, this is a matter of trust. We want to control events, when we suffer and those we love suffer we feel out of control and in those circumstances it is harder to make the right decision and we are prepared to compromise with evil in order to limit suffering, to the point of excluding God altogether. But Divine Love does not remove suffering, as you can see from the image of Christ on the Cross. Divine Love does not remove the agony of seeing those you love suffer. Quite the opposite: Divine Love suffers.

The World may not always understand the Church. It has all been a big misunderstanding...But the Blessed Virgin understands the World's pain very much, the World's agony, very, very much. The Blessed Virgin trusted in God when her World was falling about her, when her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, was hanging upon the Cross. Every heartache any mother or father, sister or brother, husband or wife has ever felt about the sufferings of their loved one, she experienced at the Foot of the Cross.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, yes, made up for what we lack. Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, went the whole distance. What we are not, they are! The gulf between man and God has been bridged by the Saviour of the World. But we, when we suffer or those we love suffer, or are terminally ill and we feel powerless to help someone we love, do we have the courage to place our trust in God, like she, even when all appears utterly hopeless? Or are we going to take matters into our own hands and abandon God's Law of Love? At the foot of the Cross, the Resurrection was far from the Virgin's mind, for her Son was being crucified. How could she know, the stricken Mother, that because of her trust in God all of her life, because of her great love for God, that her Son would rise from the dead, in Glory? Yes, the Blessed Virgin Mary knows our pain all too well. The Lord Himself, knows our pain all too well. In their great agony, in the blackest of all hours, Our Lord entrusted Himself to His Heavenly Father and the Virgin still clung to God. In them, and perhaps, in them alone, can we draw true comfort and consolation in this, a vale of tears.