In the First Reading we hear today of the great tragedy of the Babylonian exile. The desolation of that event is recorded in the Old Testament in the Book of Lamentations. The Jews could have blamed God for the disaster and decided to take on the Babylonian religion. This would mean that they would have lost their identity and faded into history like so many of the peoples who were victimized by the great powers of Assyria and Babylon. Yet, when we read the rest of the Old Testament, we see that the Jews had a deep conviction of God's love for them. It is fundamental to Christianity that our suffering are not inflicted by God. Rather, God allows suffering so that a greater good may arise. The freedom we possess is the condition of the love we are given and invited to receive. The entry of Jesus into our human reality, including the phenomenon of suffering and death, shows that God not only loves us but transforms the absurdity of our suffering through the power of His great love so as to save the world. Jesus puts this perfectly to Nicodemus when he tells him: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (Jn 3: 16)
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