How Can God's Providence And Love Be Reconciled With Extreme Suffe

[Theresita Nerita]

I know this is like the oldest question ever, but please someone give it a shot. When I read about certain horrific evil acts claiming certain not-evil victims I am overcome with sadness and mistrust of God. I acknowledge that extreme suffering could be compatible with love if agreed to in advance by the victim (i.e. the crucifixion) but when God allows an extremely evil person not only to be evil but to succeed in evil plans, how is that compatible with love? How hard would it have been to make the evil guy's plans fall through, have him get hit by a car a few minutes beforehand, etc?

Both love for the victim (who suffers inordinately) and love for the evil person (who I'm sure at one time was an abused child, unloved, never accepted, and yet for some reason was never brought back by God's grace) seem to be incomprehensible here - if God's "love" is defined this broadly, is it significant in any way we can understand?

Is it hypocritical to believe that God acts in my life (correcting me gently and leading me from darkness to light) in light of how often He seems to neglect to act in other people's lives? Sometimes it seems callous to trust in God when his other children, whom he loves, are destroyed left and right, by either their own fault or that of others.

Sorry this is so long. I wanted to be specific. Thanks.

[Theoketos]

JP II said it better than I ever could

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_30111980_dives-in-misericordia_en.html