Word to the Wise
Tuesday, September 27, 2016 - Tuesday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23 and Luke 9:51-56]"Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, 'The child is a boy!" [Job]
SEPTEMBER 27 ST. VINCENT DE PAUL
Who has never heard the expression, "I wish I was never born!" I've known people who were so miserable that they would say it. In the story of Job, all of his disasters come upon him in a brief period of time. Others have lived with terrible adversity most of their lives. Today's passage from Job is the beginning of his dialogue with his friends. It would be important to read the last verses of chapter two. Three friends come from various locations "to give him sympathy and comfort." His suffering is so bad they can hardly recognize him and are reduced to silence for seven days and nights. Now, in today's scripture, the speeches begin, but Job speaks first.
Every night's news brings pictures of unspeakable suffering. Recently, the picture of a little boy who was serious injured in a bombing attack in Syria went around the world. I can only imagine what the rest of his life can be like, having suffered such trauma. Was he born for this? The human mind and heart has struggled with the meaning of suffering since human minds and hearts gained that capacity. It's especially difficult to witness in children. I can recall my years in Memphis when, being one of the two priests in town who spoke Spanish, I would get a call from the St. Jude Children's Hospital to speak to a Hispanic family. Every child at that hospital was and is seriously ill. Were they born for this?
The symbol of suffering for us Christians is the crucifix. There we are able to see someone who suffered "for us." There is a kind of solidarity there, but was Jesus born for that? The promise of new life represented in birth is betrayed in suffering. Job is right to howl, but his loss at this moment in the story is more physical. His "friends" will add to it. We are witnesses who may have our own thoughts to add. Amen
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
80 ms
4
