The Healing Journey

January 17, 2024

“In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.”
— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“Why?” Is such a fundamental question of our human existence, and we start asking it at an early age. To the consternation, and delight, of their parents, little children will pepper them with “Why?” Sometimes in rapid succession. The classic is “Why is the sky blue?” The more advanced is “Why do I have to go to school?” The truly perturbing is “Why do I have to eat broccoli?” And the followup question is “Why is it good for me?” Of course, asking “why?” is the sign of a growing and inquisitive mind. That’s how we learn. In later years, the questions become more emotional and metaphysical and spiritual.

“Why did she leave me?” “Why is there hatred in the world?” And “Why did he have to die?” Sometimes those questions are never answered to our satisfaction because we don’t get the answer we expected or wanted. And sometimes they are not answered at all.

“Why did she (or he) have to die?” Is a common one all of us will inevitably ask. There are many possible answers. Because she was ill. Because it was her time. Because of a tragic accident. But most of the time when we ask that question, “why?” we are actually directing it at God, pleading with him for an answer. The problem usually is that we can’t understand the inscrutable ways of God in this lifetime.

Some people spend their entire lives asking why someone close to them died. No answer, to our human minds, can justify the loss. And yet, in the asking, we hopefully reach another plateau in our spiritual existence, and our faith in our Higher Power is strengthened. We may not understand the answer or be completely at ease with it, although we come to the realization that the One who made the sky blue has all the answers and is intimately concerned with our welfare and the welfare of those we love … even those who died.

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