Why does God not act in the face of suffering? Why do bad things happen with seemingly no response from God? Fr. Ron Rolheiser writes that there have been countless attempts to answer this question, not least inside the tortured experience of those suffering. Jesus died in silence, inside God’s silence and the world’s incomprehension. And we can let ourselves be scandalized by that silence, just as we can be scandalized by the seeming triumph of evil, pain, and suffering in our world. God’s seeming silence in the face of evil and death can forever scandalize us. In Christian theology, we believe that what is ultimately at stake is human freedom and God’s respect for it. God gives us freedom and refuses to violate it, even when it would seem beneficial to do so. That leaves us in a lot of pain at times, but, as Jesus reveals, God is not so much a rescuing God as a redeeming one. God’s seeming indifference to suffering is not so much a mystery that leaves the mind befuddled but a mystery that makes sense only if you give yourself over in a certain level of trust. Forgiveness and faith work the same. You have to roll the dice in trust. Nothing else can give you an answer. Despite every appearance to the contrary at times, in the end, love does triumph over hatred. Peace does triumph over chaos. Forgiveness does triumph over bitterness. Hope does triumph over cynicism. Fidelity does triumph over despair. Virtue does triumph over sin. Conscience does triumph over callousness. Life triumphs over death, and good always triumphs over evil. Our faith begins at the very point where it seems it should end, in God’s seeming silence in the face of evil. And what does this ask of us? We must trust in the truth of the resurrection. Those who live in trust will find love. God’s silence can be trusted, even when we die inside of it. We must remain faithful in love, forgiveness, and conscience despite everything suggesting they are naive. They will bring us to what is deepest inside of life. Ultimately, God vindicates virtue. God vindicates love. God vindicates conscience. God vindicates forgiveness. God vindicates fidelity. Ultimately, God vindicated Jesus and will vindicate us, too, if we remain faithful.