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In A Country Plagued By Natural Calamities
First Published: Reflections - Philippine Daily Inquirer Publication Date: 13th July 1991 Author's Name: Father Shay Cullen SSC
IN A COUNTRY PLAGUED BY NATURAL CALAMITIES seeking explanations and meaning often ends for the common person in frustration and attributing the disaster and suffering as a trial sent by God. It is the easy way out to explain the mystery of suffering. The age old question is; "If God is good and all powerful why does he allow such evil things to happen"? Some say it is to punish sin and they quote the Bible story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by a fire storm as an example. Some have blamed the massive damage to Angeles and Olongapo cities and the US bases by the eruption and mud-flows of Mt. Pinatubo as an act of an angry God. They claim it is because of the hedonistic commercial sex industries and the promiscuity of the American servicemen and the irresponsibility of the business people and politicians who grew fat on the exploitation of women and children. In other words it is the punishment for sin. But there are many just men and women in these places and why should the innocent suffer with the guilty? I don't subscribe to this kind of explanation. Human kind is an intimate part of creation that has evolved from the birth of the universe. The creator has so loved the world and the Universe it came to be in a complex and wonderful way. Like all creatures we have to accept the world as it is and survive within it. In God's mysterious creative love we are that part of the universe that can think and reflect and have knowledge of ourselves and of the Creator and meditate on our own being and our relationship with all of the creation of which we are part. If the creation, in God's plan, has so evolved then we are the consciousness of the universe, the part of that star-dust that came to life and now reflects upon itself and on its creator and seeks to be one with the creator. What a wonderful happening. For not even a single second can we cease to be part of creation, even if it can be a turbulent and convulsive environment but one that is directed more to life than to death. Where even death nurtures new life. The suffering that comes from natural events such as typhoons, eruptions and earthquakes is part and parcel of our being what we are. God did not single out humankind for suffering, God singled out human kind for love. The Creator willed that we become the consciousness of the world and the receptacle and mirror of love in the universe. Love is a conscious act of self-giving and creation. This is our specific relationship with the creator and we love God on behalf of all creation so to speak. To be able to reflect Love, God's love the human person has to have free will. Love is an act of free will but there are human who choose not to love, not to respond to their creator and that is a source of suffering and evil. Not to love God and each other is to war against creation. To love others is to support life. It is the loveless that bring death and destruction and stifle the source of life. Witness the massive ecological destruction that lays waste our planet. A greater evil than the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo is the loveless greed and selfishness we witness in the exploitation of the poor and the hungry by the politicians who masquerade as do - gooders while doing evil. The price - gougers who prey on the hungry and those dislocated by the natural convulsions of nature. There are disasters actually triggered by this greed. Witness the massive flooding caused by the loggers, the death of seas and rivers by polluters, the poisoning of the air by the irresponsible producers of chemicals and carbons. For those who struggle for life, the God of life is with them. For those who work for justice the God of Justice is working with them and in them. Those who fight to preserve the environment are engaged in selfless acts of love. They are the voice of creation, the self-reflecting consciousness of the universe. If the trees could cry out they would and in their own way they do. But being one with nature and its life-sustaining powers is being one with God, the source of life and love. Planning and deploying weapons of mass destruction that can bring havoc greater than Mt. Pinatubo is an act violence and hatred against all creation. The mushroom cloud that rises above the mountains of Zambales and Tarlac is a reminder of what a ten megaton nuclear bomb might look like, but its capacity to bring death to hundreds of thousands by radioactive ash and sand is a million more times destructive than any volcanic eruption can ever be. That is why we read with anxiety and relief the reports that powerful trucks fought their way through the ash and mud from Subic to Clark air-base last Sunday June 16 to evacuate the nuclear missiles from the underground bunkers threatened by the eruption. The warheads were there on hold from Guam according to US military sources since the B-52 bombers which normally carry them were deployed to the Gulf. The cruise missiles were left in Clark and the 36 nuclear warheads were loaded on the nuclear equipped cruiser USS Arkansas and shipped out of Subic escorted by the frigates USS Rodney M. Davis and the USS Curtis which had US evacuees from the bases on board. I could see them from where I stood overlooking Subic bay and I bid them a grim farewell as they headed to Cebu and from there went to Guam where the warheads were unloaded. If we were all truly human, and could only develop, evolve and grow in self-consciousness and awareness of others and the world of which we are a part, making such weapons of mass destruction would never occur to us. We would be in love with each other. But we are less than human, we are lacking in that sensitivity to life and love that is necessary for human survival and so suffering is, and continues to be. Yet selfless love does abound. I saw that too last week as I went down from the hill overlooking Subic bay and walked among the people giving themselves in relief work among the poor and the hungry. Church workers, nuns, priests and Bishops, in Pampanga and Zambales, the unsung heroes of God's ever-present love, are working tirelessly to sustain life, relieve suffering and bring comfort to the fearful and the distressed. A central drop-off point for donations at the Castillejos St.Nicholas school in Zambales bears witness twenty four hours a day to this commitment and love. Generous donors send trucks of relief goods to be shared with their fellow humans in need and suffering. Instead of cursing the darkness of suffering they lit the candle of sharing. I marvelled at the well organized distribution system that radiates out from Castillejos that is getting food and clothes directly to the needy in far-flung barrios. No political banners and slogans fly here, no cameras flash at the moment of giving and sharing, just a flashing smile of encouragement, a silent smile in return, a murmur of thanks. It is enough, life goes on.
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