From the Friars: Fire and Rain

For Californians in L.A. and San Diego County, the New Year brought with it catastrophic wildfires which have taken 29 lives and destroyed more than 18,000 homes, forcing more than 200,000 people to evacuate. Images revealed the engulfing flames of the Palisades and Eaton fires taking on apocalyptic magnitude. Severe drought conditions along with high winds reaching up to 80-100 mph were the ‘perfect’ conditions to enable these raging fires to cause so much destruction.

As the son of a firefighter, it was instilled in me from an early age just how dangerous and destructive fire can be. When I was nine years old, a boy from our school died in a house fire in his family home, leaving behind three sisters and parents who never fully recovered from the loss of their only son. Despite the fact that their home was only one block away from the fire station and the response was immediate, 7 year old Steven would not survive.

Such tragedy inevitably leads many to ask the perennial question: “Why does a good and all-powerful God allow such bad things to happen to His children?” If He doesn’t necessarily will such things directly, He nevertheless seems to allow them to happen. We must first remember that death was not a part of God’s original plan for creation, “because God did not make death, and He does not delight in the death of the living.” Wis1:13. Death came about because of sin and rather than deny man the gift of free will, God allowed death to enter into His divine plan. In a sense, by creating something outside of Himself, He gave up a certain degree of His power. Yet in doing so, He is able to bring about an even greater good, namely man’s redemption, from the worst evil imaginable, the crucifixion and death of His Son.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus shows us where true blessedness lies, namely in patiently enduring the hardships and privations in this life for the sake of eternal life. So let us not be like those who turn away from the Lord in the face of hardship and become like a barren bush, living for this world alone; but let us be like the tree planted beside the waters in today’s first reading from Jeremiah, not fearing the heat when it comes; whose leaves stay green in the year of drought who trust in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. May this Jubilee Year rain down an abundance of grace and find us renewed with a deep and fresh hope for Heaven!

God bless you,
–Br. Pio