The Most Serious Tragedy

On January 17, 2010, Rev Eric Toussaint preached to a small crowd inside the ruins of the roofless Our Lady of the Ascension Cathedral in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. The city smells of death and sounds of gunfire resonate through the mass, while a dead body lies rotting in the main entrance. Earlier in the week, an estimated 100,000 died as a result of a major earthquake, a calamity described by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as "one of the most serious crisis in decades." Among those killed were priests and seminarians including Archbishop Joseph Miot.

 

Fr Toussaint said, "Why give thanks to God? Because we are here. We say 'Thank you God.' What happened is the will of God. We are in the hands of God now."  The comments were personal to the priest and these, also reflected the sentiments of the faithful present. The clergy described his own near-miraculous survival: "I watched the destruction of the cathedral from this window," pointing to a window in what remains of the archdiocese office. "I am not dead because God has a plan for me." He added, "What happens is a sign from God, saying that we must recognize his power - we need to reinvent ourselves,"

 

It is strange for most to look at destruction, damage and death as an act of a loving God. Yet on many biblical accounts, God punished His Chosen people the Israelites when they took His Word for granted. He flooded the earth once and saved only Noah and his family.  God did so, because He so loved the world. The prosperous life of pious Job turned from bad to worse, but God knew of his faith and trust in His wisdom, that He rewarded him with abundance many times over.“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,  And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:20-21)

 

We must pray for those who died, now freed of the evils of the world; as we praise Him for allowing many others to survive who put their hope in His Word.   “If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.”  (2 Chronicles 20:9) 

 

The damage wrought on our lives brought about by the most serious tragedies will leave painful scars; but the redemption from God will make our lives more glorious than the original. Fr Toussaint’s thankfulness is therefore appropriate.  “They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.” (2 Corinthians 8:2)

by Mel Libre