Why do the good suffer? Probably the day before yesterday, someone asked me this question: “Good people usually suffer, and the bad ones are often successful. Where is the justice here?”
- God is absolutely fair, isn’t He?
- Yes, He is.
- Otherwise, He would not be the God. So God must reward every good deed and punish every evil one. No action, no word, no thought will escape His judgment. Now, is there even the worst man in the world, who would never do anything good?
- There is no such man.
- After all, sometimes everyone will fulfill their duty well, or show compassion to their fellowman, or something else that is good will happen to them. If this man lives so badly that after death he deserves hell, when God will pay him a little good?... When?...
- In the other world.
- But only hell awaits him there.
- So on this...
- Then, is there any man, even the best, who would never do anything wrong?
- There is no such man neither.
- Right, for also the righteous falls “seven times a day”. Therefore, if the Lord wants to end the purgatory for them, or give someone the Heaven immediately, where the scores will be compensated.
- Oh, so it is like that...
- Indeed, God shows special love for those who He punishes in this world, because in purgatory there is only a long and hard punishment. In this world, by voluntarily accepting crosses, even greater glory in Heaven we deserve; hence the proverb “Whom God loves, He scourges”.
So, there is nothing to envy those evil people who are doing well. They should be very afraid that it is already a reward for a bit of good that they have done.
Knight of the Immaculate, February 1924, No. 2 (26)
Translated by Kacper Lamentowicz
