Mary and the Problem of Evil

The first reading today describes several cases of injustice that would seem to cry out for God to “do something about it.” Yet, God’s ways are not our ways. He does indeed care about our problems and injustices, but his way of dealing with it may not be exactly what we would want. It can seem like he doesn’t hear our prayers. As we celebrate Mary today, we are reminded that it took God from the fall of Adam and Eve all the way to the time of Mary to send his promised Messiah. God won his great victory over evil not with an invading army, but with the quiet “yes” of a young girl living in a cave in Nazareth. Jesus himself won the ultimate victory not by “crying out in the street” as the gospel reminds, but by his silence at his trial and the silence of his death on the cross. God does indeed hear and answer our prayers. Let us be like Mary and say yes to God and allow him to work in his patient, sometimes silent, way.