Word to the Wise
Friday, October 5, 2012 - Friday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5 and Luke 10:13-16]The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said: Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place for taking hold of the ends of the earth till the wicked are shaken from its surface?
At various points in the year, the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, which I receive every month, will publish the latest pictures of the universe beyond our planet and leave me feeling very small, indeed! I think of those pictures when I read God's response to Job's complaints. It would be worth your time to read the whole book, but especially God's response. Job never loses faith in God but he does complain because he feels he has been unjustly treated by his suffering. His logic (and that of his friends) is that suffering is a punishment for sin. But if he is convinced that he has lived a righteous life, then WHY is he suffering? The narrative "bookends" about the "wager" between God and Satan, in which God boasts about Job's righteousness, seems unsatisfying because it makes God seem capricious. Strangely enough, I find God's response more "satisfying."
When I see those pictures in NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC or read of the latest exciting advances in genetics for treating cancer, I realize ever more that we humans will ever be confronted with mystery and will thus be always unsatisfied. The ultimate question: WHY? will find a temporary response in God's answer to Job: "Because I'm God, and you're you!" The ultimate response will be known only when we are united to God. In the meantime, we are still learning just how small we truly are, and how great is God's greatness even in this small place of creation. AMEN