If God is all powerful, all knowing, just and loving, and if He's all goodness and graciousness then why is there such evil in the world?!  Where is God's love then?  Where is His justice?  If He's all powerful, why can't He stop the injustice?  If He's all loving, then why does He not protect His children from evil?  Why do we always hear about these terrorists and their heinous acts of evil?  Why does God allow such evil?   This is a question that comes to everyone's mind at some point in their lives and the answer to it might surprise you...  It is because of God's love, mercy and justice that He allows evil in the world!  Perhaps this might sound very strange at first, but allow me to explain and I hope that by the end of this article you might thank God for allowing evil for so long!   There's Evil in the World Because God is Merciful God is merciful upon all His creation.  Some of His children have strayed from His way and inflict evil upon the world.  God however is a "gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm." (Jonah 4:2)  God is patient because He has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live." (Ezekiel 33:11)  This is why St. Peter says "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some ...

[Read the rest of this article...]

In the first article we talked about God's Toil With His Creation and how virtues take time to blossom.  We would also like to note that sometimes God calls someone for a certain task or gives another a certain promise, only to be followed by a long period of waiting. For example, God promised Abraham that his seed shall be as many as "the dust of the earth" (Genesis 13:16) and as the "stars of the sky" (Genesis 15:5).  However it wasn't until years later when Isaac was born to Abraham from Sarah.  Abraham has waited so long that Sarah laughed at the idea that she can still have children since Abraham and Sarah were now "old and well advanced in years" (Genesis 18:11). Another example we see is Joseph.  He waited many years for his dreams to be fulfilled.  However, it wasn't until after he was betrayed by his brothers, thrown into a well, imprisoned in Egypt, remained faithful to God and rose to glory again. Moses waited many years as well before God would use him to deliver his people from the hands of Pharaoh.  It wasn't until he fled to the desert and lived many years there that God appeared to him in the burning bush and told him how he was to deliver his people. Even when he delivered Israel from Egypt, Israel waited 40 years wandering in the desert before they entered into the promised land.  It wasn't until they saw G...

[Read the rest of this article...]

In the light of Genesis 1, we discover God's toil with man to produce virtues... In Genesis 1 we read "In the beginning God made heaven and earth.  The earth was invisible and without form." When God made the heavens with His word, it came to be. As for the earth God took multiple days to shape it into its intended form. Here comes the question, why did God create the earth invisible and without form to begin with? Couldn't he have just said his word and make it into its final form? The bible tells us that He first created it without form, He then created the light in a day. On a different day He divided the waters from the waters and separated them with the firmament. On a different day He gathered the waters together to separate water from land and filled the land with herbs, grass and fruitful trees. The stars and the moon were created on a different day. The living sea creatures and the birds of the sky on yet another day were created and so on. Even though it was God's will and plan to begin with, yet He made them on separate days.   So too is the work of creating virtues in man. It takes time, effort and grace which is the divine work. We currently live in a world where instant gratification is the norm. Computers are getting faster and faster; food only takes minutes to be ready from the time they were ordered. Patience is not cultivated at all. It is no su...

[Read the rest of this article...]