Steven R. Hemler - Catholic Stories of Faith and Hope: How God Brings Good out of Suffering

CATHOLIC STORIES
OF FAITH AND HOPE

CATHOLIC STORIES
OF
FAITH AND HOPE

HOW GOD BRINGS GOOD
OUT OF SUFFERING

Authored and Compiled by
Steven R. Hemler

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina

Published with Ecclesiastical Permission

Catholic Stories of Faith and Hope: How God Brings Good Out of Suffering 2021 Steven R. Hemler

All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts used in critical review, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the BibleSecond Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture texts marked as NABRE are taken from the New American Bible Revised Edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

Cover design by Caroline Green

Cover image: Christ walking on the waters, 19th century facsimile reproducing a mural mosaic, Sicily, 7th century. Photo Leonard de Selva / Bridgeman Images

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020952506

ISBN: 978-1-5051-1854-4

Kindle ISBN: 978-1-5051-1855-1

ePUB ISBN: 978-1-5051-1856-8

Published in the United States by

TAN Books

PO Box 269

Gastonia, NC 28053

www.TANBooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

Mike Aquilina, EWTN host and author of over 70 published books

Why would a good and all-powerful God allow us to endure suffering and evil? There is no greater challenge to faithno unbelievers question more urgentand perhaps no contemporary response more persuasive than Steve Hemlers. This is essential reading for modern apologists. It is rewarding reading for anyone who has suffered or shared another persons suffering.

Karlo Broussard, Catholic Answers Staff Apologist and Speaker, author of Purgatory Is For Real: Good News About the Afterlife for Those Who Arent Perfect Yet

Its one thing to articulate the philosophical basis of the age-old argument from Augustine and Aquinas that God permits evil only to bring about a greater good. Its another to complement such philosophical evidence with empirical evidence that God does in fact do that in the lives of ordinary people like you and me. In this book, Steve Hemler does just that and provides the one-two punch of philosophy and testimonials in addressing the problem of evil.

Matt Nelson, Assistant Director of the Word on Fire Institute and author of Just Whatever: How to Help the Spiritually Indifferent Find Beliefs that Really Matter

Though it is one of the oldest objections against the existence of a loving God, the problem of evil still remains among the most formidable obstacles to Christian faith. Intertwining personal narrative with logical argument, Steve Hemler artfully demonstrates how we can make sense of God in a world that knows the existence of pain and evil all too well.

Rose Sweet, Catholic author, speaker, and Life Coach

Who doesnt love a compelling, inspiring story, especially one with a divine twist at the end? Steve does a masterful job of revealing the gifts that rise up from some of the most evil, painful, and personal sufferings of people just like you and me. I will definitely recommend this book to all my coaching clients who struggle with the brokenness of their lives and the question, Why.

Rev. Michael Foley is Pastor of Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Orland Park, Illinois, and author of Walk Humbly With Your God

Steve Hemler presents a well articulated exploration of the mystery of suffering in our lives. This book explores both events within nature and through human intervention which cause suffering in this world. He does so with sound Catholic theology and real life human experiences. This thoughtful book can assist those who are wrestling with the question of human suffering both within their lives and those they love, as well as those who simply want a more thoughtful explanation of this topic.

CONTENTS

I gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of family and friends in the development of this book. I am very appreciative of Sr. Mary Margaret Ann Schlather and Catholic Distance University for implementing a new apologetics seminar on suffering, as it was this three-week-long, online seminar that prompted me to adapt my apologetics presentation on this topic into the text-based lecture format that is the basis of much of this book. I am also most grateful to several participants in that first seminar on suffering who shared their heartfelt and inspiring stories in this booknamely, Martha Madri, Bob Kaput, Richard McLeon, and Terri Thomas. I also appreciate my overseas friends Marjoe Siongco and Aneel Aranha sharing their testimonies. I am most grateful for the love and support of my wife, Linda, son Jonathan and his wife, Kelly, son Christopher and his wife, Kaila, and daughter Allison. I have been truly blessed with a terrific family. May God bless everyone involved in this labor of love and all who read this book.

This book is dedicated to the memory of John Moorehouse, editor of TAN Books, who unexpectedly passed away in December 2020 at age fifty-one. John was a true pleasure to work with and an inspiration to all who encountered him. May John rest in the peace of Christ and may his family find strength and comfort in their Catholic Faith.

This book provides a Catholic response to the big question, Why would a loving God allow evil, pain, and suffering? We all wonder why bad things happen to good people, and many wonder why bad things happen at all. Watching a relative slowly die of cancer, losing a child during pregnancy, seeing addiction wreck a friends lifesuffering like this can cause us to wonder why God doesnt step in and stop these problems.

Since hes God, it seems God could stop the suffering many people experiencefrom physical pain (such as from disease or illness), mental anguish (such as from the death of a loved one), and natural disasters (such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods, tornadoes), as well as from evil human behavior (e.g., crime, injustice, war). Since God is loving and compassionate, then why is there so much undeserved suffering in this world? And since God is all-powerful, why doesnt God intervene and stop bad things from happening in the world and to us?

Why God allows undeserved suffering is a mystery. No explanation seems to fully satisfy our human desire for understanding. This conundrum, traditionally called the problem of evil, is an ancient difficulty, one that people have struggled with for millennia.

This book, therefore, looks at how the greatest Christian thinkers of all time have dealt with the problem of pain and the mystery of suffering. We will explore possible reasons why God might allow suffering that have been proposed by theologians throughout Church history, including how suffering can help us grow in character by finding a deeper perspective and more meaningful purpose in life.

God does not want us to suffer and does not directly cause our suffering. He is not distant and uncaring. Rather, God holds us in the highest empathy and compassion during our suffering. Nevertheless, God allows us to suffer like any parent allows their child to go to school and into the real worldto make their own decisions, including mistakes. God also permits suffering so we can learn to be courageous in the face of fear, restrained in the face of desire, compassionate with those who are hurting, and choose to love God more than the things of this world.