On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics, a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.
My social media feeds are full of chirpy people telling others that God won’t give us more 
than we can handle. Do Catholics really believe that? I don’t see why God would give someone a life-threatening illness or put them out of work or make them miserable just to see if they could handle it. What kind of a God does that?
I’ve got people like that in my feeds too, and it’s difficult not to judge them and wonder if we live in the same world. I’m sure they think they’re being helpful. The Lord doesn’t promise that we won’t have trouble in this life; after all, His only Son suffered greatly, dying an ignoble death on the cross to win us our salvation. As long as there is free will in this world, we will succumb to evil from time to time; it’s human nature, and that succumbing often damages not only us but others in our lives. And it’s beyond our human understanding why people get cancer or dementia, or why earthquakes or other natural disasters happen.
Perhaps you’ll find some comfort in knowing that God never said He wouldn’t “give” us more than we could handle. What Jesus promised was that those who endure in faith to the end, despite persecution and suffering, will be saved. For me anyway, that’s a promise to cling to.
