Episcopal churches (and possibly others) hold an all-night vigil between the end of the Maundy Thursday Mass and the Good Friday service, or noon, to make up for Jesus Christ’s disciples failing to keep awake before Christ’s arrest early on Good Friday.

Last night, I read through the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, specifically the church’s Catechism, which begins thusly:

Q. What are we by nature?

A. We are part of God’s creation, made in the image of God.

Q. What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

A. It means that we are free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God.

Q. Why then do we live apart from God and out of harmony with creation?

A. From the beginning, human beings have misused their freedom and made wrong choices.

Q. Why do we not use our freedom as we should?

A. Because we rebel against God, and we put ourselves in the place of God.

Q. What help is there for us?

A. Our help is in God.

That seemed appropriate today. The same God that created life of every kind gave us free will. The bad things that happen in our world are the result of our collective bad decisions, including bad things that happen to good people, to quote a book title.