Memorial of Saint Vincet de Paul, Priest
Readings like today’s first reading and Psalm remind us of a plain, simply truth - Life is hard. Have you ever had to shoulder the misery of Job? There are deep valleys that we must pass through. How do we approach our Lord at times like these? Job gives us a good idea. As we read these passages from Job yesterday, today, and tomorrow, we have a model for how to pray when we are experiencing darkness. What does Job do? He tells God how upset he is. He questions the Lord. He wishes he had never been born. What does Job avoid? He knows he is innocent, and won’t accept his lousy friends’ telling him that he probably deserves it. He also won’t curse or blame God. This is so very common in today’s world. Everyone wants to blame God when things don’t go right; but as we see in this story, Satan is the one causing all the problems. We need to remember this when our lives are a mess: our loving God didn’t cause the mess; Satan and sinfulness cause the evil in this world. Call out to the Lord with all boldness, like Job and today’s Psalmist.
In the gospel, we see one of Jesus’s responses to evil. It’s not a divine act of violent power reducing to ash those who refuse hospitality. Instead, he simply goes to another town. We need to ask ourselves, when our life is falling apart; do we respond with destruction (of others or ourselves)? Or, do we just keep walking with Jesus, knowing that he is all we truly need?
Sometimes life is miserable. Especially in our darkest times, may we stay close to Jesus, and keep walking. Amen.
- Chris Nieport