“War, displacement, grinding poverty, injustice, sickness, death; human pain so often lead to the suspicion that God is punishing us”
This coming Fourth Sunday of Lent, Jesus encounters a man blind from birth. Immediately, the disciples ask a question that still echoes in human hearts: “Who sinned?” Their instinct is to assign blame, assuming suffering must be punishment for moral failure.
Jesus rejects this. He reframes the man’s condition not as retribution but as an opportunity for “the works of God” to be revealed, then declares: “I am the light of the world.” That statement is the interpretive key to the entire episode.
The question of suffering remains urgent today. War, displacement, grinding poverty, injustice, sickness, death; human pain so often lead to the suspicion that God is punishing us.
Yet Jesus’ response challenges that assumption. Much of the world’s suffering flows from the reality of human freedom. God created humanity capable of love, responsibility, and moral choice. But authentic freedom necessarily includes the possibility of harm.
But how about the suffering of the innocent? What explains people at the peak of their lives dying? How do you answer the question of anguished widow or a distraught fathers: why him?
These past two months, I have been visited by death four times; in fact, I can say maybe a dozen times, if I follow the one degree rule (where I know someone who had a person close to them die). But for four times, it has been as close as it could ever be.
I mourn the passing of Vince Rafael He taught my generation of Ateneans Philippine history. He was brilliant and provoked us, gave us new eyes to look at our past, understand our present, imagine the future. He continued to teach me even today.
My heart goes out to Vince’s wife Lila.
The passing of Joey Hofileña was devasting, terrible, sad, and unfathomable, even after weeks in the ICU, was difficult to accept. He was brilliant, hardworking, creative, kind, passionate, and compassionate.
I have the privilege of being professionally close to his father Justice Hector and saw how devoted Joey was to his parents. I also witnessed the love the Hofileña brothers had for each other,
I have known Chay, Joey’s wife, also for four decades. We have witnessed how Joey and Chay loved each other.
As Jimmy, Joey’s brother sang in his funeral mass, Joey was brave and strong and true and he filled the world with love, his whole life through. And yes Jimmy is right: we are all unimpeachable witnesses to this truth, proven beyond reasonable doubt.
When I think of Alran Bengzon, its gratitude that grips my heart.
He was one of the holy trinity of founders of the Ateneo School of Government, with Fr. Ben Nebres and Dean Dina Abad. He served the country well. He fought the Marcos dictatorship and was one of our best Secretaries of Health, standing up against big pharma in the generic drugs fight and the Catholic Church on family planning.
Just this week, I witnessed the passing of Francis Fainsan, at 35 the youngest of the four. He was a brother in the Neocatechumenal Way and we walked together in our community in Mary the Queen for more than a decade.
In many ways, I saw myself in Francis. I always told him that, including at the last time I saw him. We were both burdened and graced. And now it is just pure grace for him.
Some people say only the good die young, the implication being that evil persons live longer, perhaps given additional time to convert. But that is not true. Certainly, Dr. Alran was not young and had lived a full life. And I always give the example of Justice Hector Hofileña, Joey’s father who is 96 years old; I do not know any person wiser, kinder, and more Christian than him.
Some say that people who still have a mission will not yet die. But that is not true. Professor Vince still had books to write and Joey had one more term as Dean of the Ateneo law School. And Francis was very young.
The truth is we do not know why people suffer and die, and we do now know what God’s plan is for us.
The Lord’s ways are mysterious, but what consoles us is He is always merciful.
On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, we are invited to ask not whether God is punishing us, but where God is in our suffering. The Christian answer is consistent and profound: He is present, walking within the darkness, offering light that does not merely restore sight but transforms hearts.
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