Today's New York Times reports the moving visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the site of Auschwitz. He is reported to have said:

"In the end, there can only be a dread silence, a silence that itself is a heartfelt cry to God.

"Why, Lord, did you remain silent?" he said, his voice wobbling. "How could you tolerate this?"

God was not absent at Auschwitz. God was suffering with those who were suffering. (That is a consistent witness of Scripture: that God takes the side of the poor, and the suffering.) Concentration camp survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, in his book, Night, described the scene of camp inmates watching several fellows dangling from the gallows. One inmate asked, "Where is God?" Another answered, "God is there, hanging." The scandal of the cross means that God suffers with us. In the Pope's words, God tolerates evil.

For human beings in the face of such evil, sometimes, there are no words. Sometimes our only response can be silent openness to God.