Vatican City (AsiaNews) Our limitations vis-à-vis nature and sorrow raise questions that the December 26 tsunami has brought to the fore. They inspired the remarks made by Card Angelo Sodano, the Holy See's Secretary of State, who, on behalf of Pope John Paul II, presided over a mass in St Peter's Basilica in memory of the victims of the tragic event.
"Once again," the Cardinal said, "man felt small vis-à-vis the complex planet on which we live."
"It was natural to turn to the sky to find an answer to the many questions that come forth in moments of loss. Some asked even why man, who landed a probe on Titan, a billion kilometres from earth, was impotent and unable to do anything about the disaster."
"Many asked whether the Christian faith can shed some light to the enigma of sorrow. The answer, for the believer, was immediate: God loves every human being and is always beside them with a father's love".
Cardinal Sodano quoted the answer a well-known writer's put in Christ's mouth, to whom a poor traveller had turned to after falling in the mud. "Where are you, God?" cried the pilgrim, mired in mud. Soon though, he heard a mysterious voice from above saying: "I am with you in the mud".
"This is what faith teaches us. God accompanies man in every moment of his life."
Whatever the Age, man asks the same question as to the meaning of sorrow.
"Saint Augustine himself wrote in his Confessions: Quaerebam unde malum et non erat exitus "I sought the source of evil and I found no way out of the problem". He did eventually find an answer in Christ who came into the world to tell man that God always loves him, in every moment of his life, in joy as in sorrow.
Obviously, there are so many things beyond our comprehension but faith always shows the believer that God is by our side and that he is love (1 Jn 4, 5:16)".
Cardinal Sodano ended his sermon reminding those present of the "deeply meaningful words" of the Council's message to the poor and the sick in the world: "Christ has not suppressed suffering; He has not even revealed its mystery; He took it upon himself and this is enough to understand its meaning." (FP)