2008 Jul 16 Wed: Ordinary Weekday Is 10: 5-7. 13b-16/ Ps 93(94): 5-6. 7-8. 9-10. 14-15/ Mt 11: 25-27 From today's readings: "Thus says the LORD: Woe to Assyria!... The Lord will not abandon His people.... No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him." The Answer to the Problem of Evil Yesterday, it was mentioned that King Ahaz of Judah sought salvation from the pagan Assyrian empire, and that fateful choice led to disaster for both the northern and southern kingdoms. The oracle in chapter 10 of Isaiah is against Assyria itself: while the Assyrian invasion served God's purpose in providing chastisement for His faithless people in Israel and Judah, the cocky pride of the Assyrians would soon lead to their own downfall (which occurred about a century later). The rise and victories of evil forces can be unsettling to people of faith in God, who is all-good and all-powerful. But, since God is all-good and all-powerful, how come Evil exists at all, and why are forces of good defeated at times? This, in a nutshell, is the "Problem of Evil" which has troubled philosophers, theologians, and many other people unsettled by victories of evil forces. No trite explanation provides a satisfactory resolution to this "Problem of Evil," but the issue is wrestled with often throughout the Bible (such as today's prophecy for Assyria) and comes to its sharpest focus in the Cross of Christ, and so, God's ineffable answer to that Sign of contradiction is our solution to the problem of Evil! | 
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