Is God Fair?

“That’s not fair!” is an expression with exclamation point to convey the strong feeling of frustration or disappointment.

I was listening to a homily last Sunday (3rd Sunday of Lent). The priest was talking about “Is God fair?” of which he threw that question first to the audience then proceeded to explain that God is fair. In one of his examples, the priest was talking about the iniquities which is true among the priests in general, like a good priest is not assigned to big parishes instead, a “bad priest” whose past assignment left unliquidated huge amounts of expenses is assigned to a rich parish. His homily left a positive note by saying that God is fair; that God allows unfavorable circumstances to happen to deepen our faith in Him.

Personally, the homily left a mark on my 35 years in serving God in Sta. Ana Shrine Parish. I have heard several times the complaints of people about God not being fair. There are moments in my life too that I would accuse God of not being fair when I do not get my way. But I know in my heart and mind that when it comes to fairness GOD is always fair; and just; and merciful.

When the homily was mentioning that there are priests with children out of wedlock; or priests with (owning) condominiums or luxury cars or farms; whose vow of poverty or vow of obedience or vow of chastity are not anymore observed nor practiced, I was immediately thinking that priests should not preach about the corruption in the government because it is happening in their midst and sometimes the bishop would just cover his ears and close his eyes to irregularities especially if the erring priest is highly favored.

I remember years back of a priest who was assigned in our parish. He was a “bad boy” or a spoiled brat because his spiritual director was a bishop. Unfairness was prevalent in our parish and for a while we were accusing God of being unfair. After his one-year assignment, we sent a letter to the bishop with more than 300 signatures on it requesting that the said priest be not assigned to any parish until he will complete a formation program. Lo and behold, the bishop listened to our petition and sent the erring priest to several formation or rehabilitation programs (to no avail, I guess). In that particular situation, God through the bishop was being fair to both parties.

To end this article of mine I am saying now that most of the iniquities in life are the result of accumulated human customs and traditions as well as the uncertainties of time and chance. We cannot just blame them on God. We cannot blame God if His priests are corrupt or very worldly. These are accumulated behavior because the first time they are involved with petty corruptions and be able to get away with this, they will become callous in the corrupt practices. When these callousness are seen by seminarians or newly-ordained priests, they will follow the footsteps thinking that it is part of the “road less traveled by”.

(P.S. Mistakes are part of human behavior and to forgive and forget are part of being merciful. There were erring priests in the past who were forgiven by bishops because the priests were remorseful and repentant. But if corruption keeps on repeating and becoming a vicious cycle, the priests be better removed from the place of temptation before they will become millionaires at the expense of the parish coffer.)