The tragedy at Virginia Tech on Monday, April 19^th, is undoubtedly on the hearts and minds of many of us.  When confronted by such a horrifying act, we naturally ask questions. “Could the university have not done more to warn and protect its students and faculty?” “How did an obviously disturbed young man so easily obtain weapons?” “Why did someone not notice how disturbed and dangerous this man was?”

Sometimes, we ask deeper questions.  The other day, someone asked me, “What causes someone to do something like that?  Is it an act of God?”

The short answer to that question is, “No, of course not.  It was not an act of God.  It was an act of sin.”  But the question touches on something that people have struggled with for millennia.  It is known as theodicy: how could God, who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good create a world in which so much evil exists. 

In order to answer that question, we must look to ourselves.

In the Book of Genesis (1: 27), we read, “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.” 

We, human beings, are creatures made in the image of God.  What does that mean?

The Church, going all the way back to the ancient fathers, has always understood that to mean that human beings are rational creatures with a free will that enables them to control their actions.  St. Irenaeus of Lyons put it this way:

“But man, being endowed with reason, and in this respect like to God, have been made free in his will, and with power over himself, is himself the cause to himself….”

So God gave human beings reason, free will, and the ability to be master of our actions.  Why? 

The old Baltimore Catechism puts it like this (Question 3):  “Why did God make us?  God made us to show forth His goodness and to share with us His everlasting happiness in heaven.”  In other words, God made us because He loves us, and He wants us to love Him in return and live with Him forever.

But love is something that cannot be forced.  It must be freely chosen, otherwise it is not love.  Therefore God has given freedom to human beings: the freedom to choose to love God or to reject Him, the freedom to choose between good and evil.

And so, brothers and sisters, the source of evil in the world is not God.  It is we ourselves.  It is what comes about when we abuse the freedom God has given us.

In Friday’s newspaper, there was an article by Cal Thomas, the syndicated columnist.  In it, he also wonders about the tragedy at Virginia Tech.  He makes this observation: “Our problem is that we try to control evil from without when, in fact, it resides within us.  Having abandoned the teaching of right and wrong and accountability for one’s actions for fear of offending a person’s sensibilities, we have unilaterally disarmed ourselves against evil.”

Some have wondered if tighter gun control laws could have prevented this tragedy.  Others have wondered if it might have been prevented if one or more of the victims had, themselves, been armed.

I wonder if it might have been prevented had this young man not experienced what seems to be a common denominator among such murderers: the experience of having been isolated, picked-on, and bullied in his formative years.  Would this have happened if, early on, he had been befriended, accepted, included, and loved.

Don’t get me wrong – that, in absolutely no way, excuses what he did.  We are free.  He was free.  No one can make us do something.  We are always free to choose.  He was free to choose NOT to do what he did. 

But it is a reminder to us that failures in charity, even ones that seem small – isolating others, bullying, name-calling – can have far-reaching consequences that we don’t intend, especially when directed against someone who, for whatever reason, is very weak.

 It is also a reminder to us of the awesome power of freedom that God has given us and of the terrifying consequences when that power is abused.