When a tragedy happens in our lives, one of the first questions to come to our mind is ‘what is it for?’. It happens that, while analyzing our life, we don’t understand why it so happened — sometimes that results from our blindness, but sometimes there are other reasons for that, of which we know nothing. That is called innocent sufferings. Where do they come from? Where is the limit?
Father Petro Lopatynskyy in the program we advise you to listen on ‘Radio Mariya’ contemplates about the generic sin and its consequences, or on where innocent sufferings come from.
Читай українською: Чому страждають невинні? І що таке родовий гріх?
In the spiritual world we are all guilty to one another. Everybody has got some connections with other generations back to Adam.
They say that a butterfly’s wingbeat can cause tsunami in the opposite part of the world. And our life is not something local: no action, condemnation, bad thought is in vain, it influences the mankind. There is the notion of ‘collective unconscious’, and in the language of theology it stands for common nature of all of us.
God has granted us freedom and the right to choose. And our life depends on what decisions we make. In the spiritual world punishment resulting from our actions is not seen right away.
Three types of sins are distinguished. Original sin stands for separation from God, each of us has as the result of Adam’s and Eve’s actions. Generic sin is what we get as the result of actions taken by our ancestors. And personal sin is committed by us.
When we see the sufferings of innocent people, in particular, children, we often say that if God is fair, why does he allow their sufferings?
But saying that, one should deviate from the ‘formula’ we are accustomed to: God fairly punishes sinners and rewards the rightful. The Eastern Father Isaak Syrin says: ‘where there is fairness there is no love, where there is love there is no fairness’. Thus, if God were fair to us, the world would have perished long ago. Therefore, it is worth bearing the following notion in mind: God is love.
Saint Antonio says that God does not punish anyone. His love is Eden for one, and Hell for another. Since love stands for the freedom of choice. Thus, a sinner punishes himself with his conduct and his own decisions.
Why do people suffer, why has the most innocent Jesus suffered? Why do the strongest bear this burden?
To understand this, one should perceive people not separately from one another, but as one body. And when one cell starts functioning in a wrong way, it contaminates the others. One unhealthy cell influences the whole body. Thus, finally, one cell can also heal.
It is important to bear it in mind that the mission of a Christian is to join the pain of others, to feel empathy. If we follow this principle, the question ‘God, where are You in sufferings?’ will not arise. Jesus got crucified for our sake and is present with us in all our sufferings. How can there be more empathy? But where is each of us in the time others suffer, how do we behave in our own sufferings, can we perceive them as empathy with others?
Prepared by Nataliya PAVLYSHYN on the basis of the materials of ‘Radio Mariya’
A photo from open Internet sources
