Word to the Wise
Saturday, October 1, 2022 - Saturday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17 and Luke 10:17-24]Job answered the Lord and said: I know you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes. [Job]
OCTOBER 1st ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS [aka St. Teresa of LIsieux]
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Although Job loudly protested his innocence and asked WHY? in his suffering, he never lost faith. At the same time, God's response to Job and his friends left them without an answer to the WHY? of the suffering. Job's final words are an acceptance of God's response: I am who I am, and you are who YOU are.
Each day one may learn on various forms of media of the newest discovery in the treatment of this or that health challenge. The effort to alleviate or eliminate suffering is a positive but never ending one. When I watch the news on TV, I am told of the newest drug that will take care of a particular problem, but then there is a fast and faint voice that warns of possible side-effects, even death, that are enough to make one wonder if the medication causes more problems than it solves!
Jesus was not spared of suffering caused by his political and religious enemies. But his suffering was vindicated by his resurrection from the dead. It is this hope that is at the center of Christian faith. Some of us are spared of serious emotional, physical or spiritual suffering, but I dare say those are few. To be human, made in the image and likeness of God, is to suffer in one way or another. What we do with our suffering can make all the difference in the world for us and for those who try to comfort us. AMEN