A man was once sitting in his car at a stoplight. He was the first in a line of about 7 or 8 cars. The light turned green and he took his foot off the brake and went to give it gas, but as soon as he did the car stalled. In frustration he put it in park and then went to restart it, hoping he could get it going before the drivers behind him started to honk their horns at him. Before he even turned the key, however, a big 18-wheeler diesel truck came barreling through the intersection at about 50 miles per hour; it had run the red light. Reports said that the diesel's brakes had failed and he was unable to stop. The mere difference of about 5 seconds, and the man in the car was alive rather than dead. It is unlikely that he would have survived being hit by that semi.
Certainly, in those few brief seconds, while he was frustrated for his car stalling, all he could think about was how annoying the inconvenience was. That was until he realized that his stalled car saved his life. There are many things in our lives that are like that, but we just do not know about all of them. These are the things that frustrate us, and make us say "why God?" but in truth they are there for our good. Sometimes they help to prevent something worse from happening, and sometimes they are replaced by something far better than we could have hoped for. Although we do not always know what the reasoning is, since we know that God is behind these things, we know that there is some good that will come from them.
In the gospel reading for Mass earlier this week, Jesus told the Apostles that He was going "to him who sent me" (the Father in Heaven) and that this caused them to be saddened. This last Thursday at St. George Catholic Church (as well as in a few other dioceses besides the Ordinariate) we celebrated Ascension Day. We think now about the Ascension as a wonderful event, but that is not exactly what the Apostles were thinking when it first happened. Jesus had to explain to them why they should not be sad. He tells them that "it is to your advantage that I go away". They would only see the sad parts of Jesus' ascension up into Heaven, but He was explaining to them that sometimes God allows one sad thing to come into our lives so that it can pave the way for a joyful thing to come afterward.
As difficult as it may sound, we do not always get to see the blessing that God gives to us after the "sad events" that we are talking about. That is when it becomes quite difficult to keep our faith. Imagine if the man in the illustration at the beginning had been looking down and not noticed the truck rush through the red light in front of him. He might never know the wonderful grace that had been provided to him. I like to think about my guardian angel at times, and I often wonder how many things he protected me from that I do not even know about. In the same way, a challenging event that we do not like may not have a clear connection to the blessing that God sends; but that does not mean that there is not a blessing somewhere!
What events in your life have been giving you difficulties lately? Maybe it is a co-worker whose ungodly behavior is making it difficult for you to maintain a holy composure? Maybe it is your finances that are not what you think they should be? Maybe you have lost someone close to you and cannot understand why God would allow that person to die? Whatever it is, we can take hope that God does not send us anything bad unless there is a good reason for it. Sometimes we know the blessing that comes and sometimes we do not, but God always knows whether it is better for us to know it or not. If He wants to stretch your faith, He might allow the reason for His actions to remain hidden. We cannot get angry for His choice, however, since He always has our best in mind.
If we lived in a world of chance and happenstance, and there were no God, then those bad events would definitely be nothing more than bad events. Yet, those of us with faith know better. We know that God is on His throne and that the world is not a mere chance collusion of molecules. Every single detail of God's creation was put there for a reason, and our Lord is so powerful that nothing can happen outside of His control. Therefore, when things look like they are going sideways, we can always take hope that (in some way) it is for "our advantage" (as our Lord told the Apostles). Yes, we are still supposed to strive for holiness and work for the good of all, but we do not do that hopelessly, but with great hope; hope in our Sovereign Redeemer.
