The consequences of evil are far-reaching. We can point to them all around us: murder, adultery, abuse, terrorism. Our lives seem to be out of control. Because we are free and because we are affected by original sin we harm others and others harm us. But God does not take away our free will. To do so would go against how God created us so that we could love him freely.
But what about events that are not caused by moral evil? Disasters and many illnesses are not caused by sin and yet they cause great destruction and death. Physical disasters occur according to the physical laws of nature, like gravity or transference of thermal energy. Gravity causes things to fall, which can include rocks. The transference of thermal energy on a large scale generates hurricanes. We call them evil when they impact us and our property. Illnesses have innumerable causes, some of which we don’t know. We do not live in a world in which physical harm cannot occur.
However, God allows all of these. St. Augustine wrote: “For almighty God …, because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself” (Catechism, par. 311). We call this divine providence. It also means that we need to have faith that God is guiding creation toward perfection. Physical evil occurs because creation has not reached perfection (Catechism, par. 310). Read more in the Catechism, paragraphs 302-314.
Know your faith. Live your faith. Teach your faith.
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