Dilexit Nos §192

¹⁹² Elsewhere I have suggested that, “God has in some way sought to limit himself in such a way that many of the things we think of as evils, dangers or sources of suffering, are in reality part of the pains of childbirth which he uses to draw us into the act of cooperation with the Creator”. This cooperation on our part can allow the power and the love of God to expand in our lives and in the world, whereas our refusal or indifference can prevent it. Several passages of the Bible express this metaphorically, as when the Lord cries out, “If only you would return to me, O Israel!” (cf. Jer 4:1). Or when, confronted with rejection by his people, he says, “My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender” ( Hos 11:8).