JOB 38:1, 8-11
The
Book of Job is about an agreement between God and the Devil, a test
to determine how Job will react once everything, including his
health, family, finances are taken away from him. For Job, it's easy
to be a joyful and happy person because Job has everything. But what
happens when everything he deems of value disappears. When Job loses
everything, his friends tried to console him. They share their
insights as Job seeks understanding about his misery. You knows that
it's BAD for Job because in (3:1), he curses the day he was born.
In
his miserable condition, God appears and asked him questions: “Where
were you when I laid the foundation of the world?” “Who shut
within doors the sea when it burst forth from the womb; when I made
the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands? When
I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door, and said: Thus
far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be
stilled.”
The
Book of Job doesn't provide easy answers to suffering, grief and
misery. Neither is it a book that has trite or simplistic responses,
such as: “Just accept your suffering. It's a part of life, etc.”
It's not necessarily a book that we can use for Pastoral Care. (I
learned that lesson the hard way when I used it for CPE training).
The Book of Job is not a “one answer fits all”. And after
reading the Book of Job, it's not uncommon to be disappointed and be
dis-sattisfied after reading the book. It's not uncommon after
reading the book, the reader is left with unanswered questions that
prompts more questions.
The
Book of Job takes a person who thinks that they are the center of the
universe, and brings them to another place where they are not the
center of the universe, but God is the center of the universe. They
began to learn the difficult lesson that while they can control
certain things in their life, there is so much that is beyond their
control.
As
you may know, Pope Francis just published his new Encyclical called
Laudato Si (Praised Be). One of the things he shared in the
Encyclical is that “St. Francis asked that part of the friary
garden always be left untouched, so that wild flowers and herbs could
grow there, and those who saw them could raise their minds to God,
the Creator of such beauty. Rather than a problem to be solved, the
world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and
praise.”
(That
being said, just don't use these words as an excuse not to mow the
lawn. It's not going to work. For instance: “Dad, I don't want to
mow the lawn. I just want the wild grass to grow, so that when I see
the weeds, I can praise God.” That won't work!!!)
There
are things that are meant to be domesticated, and things that are
left in the wild. There is order in creation as well as things that
are chaotic. All of these things make up the beautiful, unique and
interesting world that we live in. Also, it's a reminder that God is
always in charge.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-17
As
St. Paul uses every tool in his arsenal in order to persuade people
to believe that Christ is the chosen Messiah, the Son of God, he
realizes that the most effective way, not necessarily from his own
talents and methods of persuasion, but it is the Cross of Christ.
Time and again, he learned to refrain from using his wisdom or human
wisdom to convince people to be Catholic and join the Church, but to
focus on God's work in the Crucified Christ.
MARK 4:35-41
Reflecting
upon God's words, we will realize that there are difficult things to
come to grips with, most especially with the problem of suffering.
And yet at the center of the great mystery is the Cross of Christ, in
which he embraces willingly, human suffering at all levels (physical,
emotional distress, anxiety, grief, abandonment).
This
Gospel passage from Mark recalls the Lord waking up and rebuking the
storm: “Quiet, be still.” The wind ceased and there was great
calm.
The
Cross of Christ is the great mystery that quiets the storm of our
intellectual pride, our need to understand and make sense and control
everything. But we will realize in our spiritual maturity that there
is so much more we don't know, we are not the center of the universe,
God loves us despite our daily struggles, our weaknesses and our
imperfections.
No comments:
Post a Comment