Requiescat in pace…

A 5-month-old boy was laid to rest Monday at the first funeral for the victims of New Zealand’s devastating earthquake, as the confirmed death toll rose to 148 and the government considered a nationwide levy to help pay for reconstruction. Dozens of family and friends gathered at a small chapel in the stricken city of Christchurch for Baxtor Gowland, who was sleeping peacefully at home when he was struck by masonry shaken loose by the magnitude 6.3 quake last Tuesday. He died in a hospital, the family said in a statement read to The Associated Press by the child’s great-uncle, Peter Croft.

Alas, this is precisely where the issue of theodicy becomes, for me, most pressing.

Inside the chapel, a slideshow of the smiling infant’s photographs flashed on a screen, as Sarah McLachlan’s song “Angel” echoed throughout the room. “We have all been thankful of the support and good wishes expressed from New Zealand and around the world,” Croft said, his voice shaking with emotion as he read the statement. “However, we would like to think that today is for family and friends so that we can farewell Baxtor with peace and dignity.”

Requiescat in pace little one…