St. Peter Martyr Altarpiece
Fra Angelico
Wikimedia Commons

A portion of life, to a greater or lesser extent, consists of stress and discomfort, misery and disappointment.  Some argue and posit that the present of these, which they construe as evils, within our life proves there is no God.

The presence of evil is one of two objections St. Thomas Aquinas presents in his Suma Theologica (I:2:3) against the existence of God.  The objection being, if God is all goodness any evil would be contrary to His infinite goodness.  St. Thomas rebuts the objection with an argument from St. Augustine (Enchiridion): “If evil and sin spoiled the plan of God, He would clearly not be omnipotent, would not be God. But if He is so powerful that He can make even fit into the working out of His design, then the whole objection falls.  Out of evil He brings forth good.”

The story of salvation history is the story of God bring forth good from evil: Joseph saving his brothers after they sold him into slavery; Israel being brought from Egypt back to the promised land; and Christ conquering sin and death through his passion and dead on the cross.

So, in the stress and discomforts of life, preserve with faith, hope and charity.  God’s power, love, and grace conquer and reign over the miseries and disappoints of life.