PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Some time ago I attended a presentation by Fr Richard Leonard, a Jesuit Priest currently based in North Sydney. I was recently reminded of his book "Where the hell is God?’ The book looks at the question of where God is in our lives in the really tough times and indeed, why he has let them happen in the first place. Famines, droughts, infant death and the pain and suffering for our elderly are things that people often question as to - why does God allow these things to happen?
The book was written as a response to Fr Richards’s reflections on how he, and his family, has responded to the crisis of his then 28-year-old sister becoming a quadriplegic. His sister, who as a trained nurse, and who spent more than three years as a volunteer working in Calcutta with Mother Theresa in the Hospital of the Dying and then later in the Northern Territory in a remote aboriginal settlement. He asked where was God in this situation? How could God let this happen to such person? Why her?
In our lives we have experiences that challenge our thinking and shift our balance of thought, they leave an entrenched feeling that our previous 'way' was not quite enough or was out if sync. In essence these experiences change us and challenge our core beliefs. It might be good to read Harry Potter or Twilight or other books for entertainment but I recommend that we also search for some literature that challenges our thinking. This book leads us through an examination of our own beliefs and expectations for God. Why does God allow innocent infants to die in their cots? It leads us to reflect on our own expectations of our God and through this to an examination of our relationship with our God.
So, how could God let this happen to Fr Richard’s sister? In the end Fr Richard realised that when he sat in the hospital crying, with his mother at his sisters bed, God was there weeping beside them. God is beside all of us in the terrible and tough times.
