CATHOLIC CATECHISM

SUFFERING AND EVIL IN THE WORLD

There's much suffering and evil in the world. Let's forget cancer and aids for a moment, and not talk about murder, war or hunger, either. I lately read something quite different. In the middle of the Pacific, in a whirl between San Francisco and Hawaii, there's floating a huge amount of plastic rubbish, concentrated on a surface at least as large as France and Spain together. For me it's the ultimate proof that man is a fumbler.
Individual persons may be ever so capable and noble, but man 'as a species' seems unable to save the world. Does progress really exist? Will we slowly but surely perish in the struggle against the pollution of our environment, because it's the very level of consumption that determines the status of a man? (Whoever has no air tainter on four wheels in his garage, is already out of the picture in some circles.)
There were already plenty proofs of our insufficiency: what about the atom bombs on Japan, the trenches in the first world war, the holocaust, medieval pestilence and modern terrorism? Whenever we concentrate on the fight against one evil, somewhere else a new abscess bursts open.

On the other hand: in the fields of human rights, emancipation and democracy, we do go ahead.
My view of life is rather optimistic, because I'm doing well, thank to all these fantastic people around me. There are so many beautiful things on the earth: children, flowers, real love. The kingdom of God is among us, thank to Jesus Christ above all.
I'm aware I'm responsible to contribute to a better world, beginning in my own neighbourhood. We have to enter into a dialogue with shortsighted fanatics to prevent that the earth would become hell.
But I have no illusions. There will never be a heaven on this earth. Every creature is limited and imperfect, and the same holds for the cosmos as a whole. Perhaps, the cosmos will implode; then this would be the apocalypse, the 'end of the world'. Only after that, God will make the world entirely perfect.