Thank you, Cliff. It seems to me that the "problem of suffering", like a few other challenges in life in general and the Catholic faith in particular (Original Sin, anyone?) really stem from our perfectly natural tendency to create God in our own image. Perhaps the most profound notion we can have is "personhood", so our best shot at pinning down God has been to describe them as three persons. To me these "problems" open a window through which we may begin to discern how very much more there is to God than personhood.

There is an old quip about quantum mechanics to the effect that anyone who claims to understand it obviously doesn’t. It seems so counter-intuitive, not least because our senses have never had to deal with its consequences. Nevertheless, the conscientious labours of science get us ever closer.

When it comes to God and the nature and purpose of creation, we are – or should be – on a very similar journey. The "Hard Problems" challenge our model of reality, requiring us to discern a better model, which should, in turn, refine how we try to live.