March 1, 2024

Letters to the Editor

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No letters were printed this week; here is the letter from six weeks ago:

Like Jesus, let’s give God our best gift: obedience to his will and serving others

It has always bothered me: why would God, who is love personified, ask his Son to undergo tremendous suffering and a horrible death, especially when his Son had asked to let this fate pass him by, if possible?

The answer has to be that God did this for our benefit. But how does Jesus’ dying a horrible death benefit us?

Could it be that an angry God demanded that a ransom of suffering and death be paid to him before our sins would be forgiven, like the human sacrifices of the Aztecs to their “gods”? But isn’t such a bloodthirsty demand uncharacteristic of a loving God?

Another possible answer is that it wasn’t God’s demand that a price be paid to redeem us. It was our fallen nature, requiring a boost from a loving God to regain our union with him.

Jesus came not only to teach us with his words about how to live, but also to give us an example with his life of how to live.

By his suffering and death, he has put into action his words to turn the other cheek and has enabled us to be reunited with his Father.

His courage in the face of suffering and death inspires us to live with that same courage and dedication. And he has given us the Eucharist to bind us to him in his union with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to inspire us and guide us on our way to the Father.

Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s will by choosing self over the other was replaced by Jesus’ obedience to God’s will by choosing others over self, even if it meant intense suffering and death.

Just as Jesus’ love of his Father was rewarded with resurrection, so too will we be rewarded with resurrection if we offer God our best gift—obedience to his will and living lives of loving service to him and others.

Maybe the best answer to the question is who can comprehend the mind of God.

- Mike Walro | Hanover

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