He added that the same is true of natural disasters like earthquakes and plagues. God does not bring them about, but he has given nature a form of freedom, different from that of human freedom, he stated. God allows nature "to evolve according to its own laws of development."
"The pandemic of the coronavirus has abruptly roused us from the greatest danger individuals and humanity have always been susceptible to: the delusion of omnipotence," Cantalamessa said, noting that scripture teaches us that during difficult times, the first thing we should do is "cry out to God."
"Does God perhaps like to be petitioned so that he can grant his benefits? Can our prayer perhaps make God change his plans?" he asked. "No, but there are things that God has decided to grant us as the fruit both of his grace and of our prayer, almost as though sharing with his creatures the credit for the benefit received."
"God is the one who prompts us to do it: 'Seek and you will find,' Jesus said; 'knock and the door will be opened to you.'"
Cantalamessa quoted Pope St. John Paul II, who wrote from his hospital bed after the assasination attempt against him: "To suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ.'"
"Thanks to the cross of Christ, suffering has also become in its own way a kind of 'universal sacrament of salvation' for the human race," he said.
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.
