The average amount of time someone spends reading my blog is about 90 seconds at one sitting, according to the WordPress stats. So, if you only have 90 seconds, please read the three paragraphs Compendium of Theology by St. Thomas Aquinas below, as it’s some of his most beautiful theology I have ever read. Then, if you have time, read my commentary in orange.
God’s permission of evil in the things governed by Him is not inconsistent with the divine goodness. For, in the first place, the function of Providence is not to destroy but to save the nature of the beings governed. The perfection of the universe requires the existence of some beings that are not subject to evil, and of other beings that can suffer the defect of evil in keeping with their nature. If evil were completely eliminated from things, they would not be governed by Divine Providence in accord with their nature; and this would be a greater defect than the particular defects eradicated.
Secondly, the good of one cannot be realized without the suffering of evil by another. For instance, we find that the generation of one being does not take place without the corruption of another being, and that the nourishment of a lion is impossible without the destruction of some other animal, and that the patient endurance of the just involves persecution by the unjust. If evil were completely excluded from things, much good would be rendered impossible. Consequently it is the concern of Divine Providence, not to safeguard all beings from evil, but to see to it that the evil which arises is ordained to some good.
Thirdly, good is rendered more estimable when compared with particular evils. For example, the brilliance of white is brought out more clearly when set off by the dinginess of black. And so, by permitting the existence of evil in the world, the divine goodness is more emphatically asserted in the good, just as is the divine wisdom when it forces evil to promote good.—St. Thomas Aquinas, Compendium of Theology, Chapter 142, On God’s Goodness and the Permission of Evil.
St. Thomas is repeated below in italics with my thoughts following in bold-orange:
God’s permission of evil in the things governed by Him is not inconsistent with the divine goodness. For, in the first place, the function of Providence is not to destroy but to save the nature of the beings governed. The perfection of the universe requires the existence of some beings that are not subject to evil, and of other beings that can suffer the defect of evil in keeping with their nature. If evil were completely eliminated from things, they would not be governed by Divine Providence in accord with their nature; and this would be a greater defect than the particular defects eradicated.
When St. Thomas refers to “beings that are not subject to evil,” I suspect he either means plants or angels (post-probation “after” they have chosen God) and when he refers to “beings that can suffer the defect of evil in keeping with their nature,” I assume he is referring to humans. Even if the most evil things happening in the world happen under God’s permissive will (not His positive will) St. Thomas can still say the most challenging of circumstances are “governed by Divine Providence.” That is, if free-will were eradicated, then we would not have real beings governed by Divine Providence! God has somehow decided that a world full of evil flanked by forgiveness is better than a world that has neither free-will nor forgiveness. By “somehow…” keep reading…
Secondly, the good of one cannot be realized without the suffering of evil by another. For instance, we find that the generation of one being does not take place without the corruption of another being, and that the nourishment of a lion is impossible without the destruction of some other animal, and that the patient endurance of the just involves persecution by the unjust. If evil were completely excluded from things, much good would be rendered impossible. Consequently it is the concern of Divine Providence, not to safeguard all beings from evil, but to see to it that the evil which arises is ordained to some good.
God has allowed not only His Christ, but all little-Christs to “take the hit” at the hands of the elite of the world. Usually such injustice simply makes me mad as I look forward to who is headed to heaven and hell. But St. Thomas Aquinas sees deeper than this as he writes “the good of one cannot be realized without the suffering of evil by another.” St. Thomas then indicates that God’s goal for us on earth is “not to safeguard all beings from evil, but to see to it that the evil which arises is ordained to some good.” In other words, God would never allow an evil except one from which He could bring a greater good. In fact, we might go so far as to say God would never allow evil except one from which He will bring a greater good. It is almost as if all Christians (not just martyrs) were made to be crushed in order to bring new life: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.—John 12:24.
This is seen in other examples in the natural world. For example, as seen in the featured image above, the female Giant Pacific Octopus hides under a rock or cove in the ocean for the last year of her life, self-inducing her own starvation as she is too busy fanning away bacteria from her thousands of children. This sedentary fanning always takes the life of the mother as it hatches her young. This life-giving act of final self-sacrifice is not simply accidental for a few, but common to all in her species.
Both the Pacific Octopus at the natural level and the Catholic martyr at the supernatural level fulfill the words of St. Thomas: “If evil were completely excluded from things, much good would be rendered impossible. Consequently it is the concern of Divine Providence not to safeguard all beings from evil, but to see to it that the evil which arises is ordained to some good.” In other words, many things seem destined to give new life by dying. And in that dying, they are rewarded themselves. It’s how God has programmed the universe—in a dying-to-life pattern! (Perhaps the main reason there are so many conversions of Muslims today is how many martyrs there are in the Middle East.)
Thirdly, good is rendered more estimable when compared with particular evils. For example, the brilliance of white is brought out more clearly when set off by the dinginess of black. And so, by permitting the existence of evil in the world, the divine goodness is more emphatically asserted in the good, just as is the divine wisdom when it forces evil to promote good.
At the General Judgment, one’s vision of the damned demons and humans in hell juxtaposed to all the saved humans and the obedient angels will be cause for exulting in God’s glory. The contrast will be more stunning than white against a black. But no one will accuse God of injustice. Why? For one, because all the damned had (at one point) been given plenty of grace to be saved. So also in the current Church crisis, many of us are at a loss as to why God would allow such evil to take place in, say, the Synod during this upcoming month. The answer is clear and very practical: God has drawn more people to Apostolic Catholicism over the past 10 years than perhaps any time in modern Catholic Church history over the past 70 years.
This is because everyone who is reading Vatican news can see as St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that the “good is rendered more estimable when compared with particular evils.” God is allowing the current heresy of modernism implode on itself so fully that orthodoxy is the only answer left to any honest Catholic. Personally, I glorify God for His goodness as He is bringing beautiful salvation out of such ugly modernism that fills the Vatican and so many chanceries today.