The Thomistic Institute
God and Suffering: How Could God Allow Evil? | Rev. Thomas Petri O.P.
Mar 3, 2025
Rev. Thomas Petri O.P., a distinguished theologian and President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, dives deep into St. Thomas Aquinas's insights on God and suffering. He explores the concept of God as the essence of being and goodness. Petri clarifies that evil stems from the absence of good rather than being a force of its own. Additionally, he discusses free will and its connection to sin, emphasizing humanity's intrinsic desire for communion with God, while addressing the divine purpose behind suffering.
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Quick takeaways
- Fr. Thomas Petri emphasizes that God is ipsum esse subsistens, meaning He is the very act and source of existence itself.
- Aquinas distinguishes evil as a deficiency of good stemming from free will, not as a direct creation of God, highlighting divine providence.
Deep dives
Understanding God as Existence
God is defined as ipsum esse subsistence, meaning that God is existence itself. Unlike the common perception of God as the supreme being atop a hierarchy, St. Thomas Aquinas posits that God is the very act of existence, similar to how fire embodies the act of heating. Everything that exists does so because it participates in God's existence; without His continual presence, existence would collapse into nothingness. This perspective emphasizes that God's essence is intrinsically linked to being, grounding all levels of existence and causality.
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