Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 7, 2021: For this purpose have I come...

For this purpose have I come… 

Is your heart open to God’s absolute love? 

   Job believed he had done everything right: he had lived the life of a righteous man and had tried hard not to sin. And yet he is allotted months of misery and troubled nights; he is left without crops or flocks, children or health, indeed, without hope, because God saw fit to test him. Consequently, Job is having difficulty finding God in any aspect of his life. Moreover, although he talks to God frequently, it’s really a one-sided conversation in which Job has no real connection to God, he simply projects onto God all that he has in his own heart. Job has an idea of who God is and what God is about and God is violating that idea. And so, Job’s heart is closed. He is not ready to understand, as Psalm 147 explains, that The Lord heals the brokenhearted. Job is not ready to praise the Lord, though ultimately the Lord will be good to Job.

   In Mark’s Gospel, having spent days healing and preaching and teaching, Jesus remains open to the need before him, healing not only Simon’s mother-in-law but also all who were brought to him, even after the sun has gone down. Jesus’ first action upon rising very early before dawn is to pray, opening himself to his Father and being empowered for the day to come; he is armed with infinite love, and opens his heart in love to all. His ministry begins in love; people follow him because there is absolute love here. Jesus is the very presence of God, revealing God to all whose lives he touches, open to all who are in need. Following in the steps of Jesus, Paul tells the Corinthians that the grace of God is all gift: he is there, preaching to them, teaching them, revealing God’s love in work in him as well, free of charge to all who need it. God is a mystery we can never get enough of, a revelation we will never entirely plumb the depths of – yet, so long as our heart remains open to his revelation, ready to receive his love, we may continue to have the hope that so eludes Job, hopeful that we, like Paul, may have a share in redemption.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 4, 2018: For this purpose have I come...

 For this purpose have I come… 

How clearly do we understand God's vision? 

   When his so-called friends challenge the good man Job for trusting in God even when Job’s life has fallen apart around him, Job does not hesitate to proffer a vision of life as he currently sees it:  Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?  Having endured months of misery and troubled nights, Job is without hope.  Job’s understanding of life, like our own, is limited by the very human parameters he places upon it.  With a growing sense that he has no control, Job is in despair:  I shall not see happiness again.  But as Job will come to learn, there is no moment when God is not by his side; once Job knows that, knows it in the very core of his being, he comes to appreciate life differently, seeing as God’s sees rather than as man does.  Only when Job gives all power over to God can he embrace the message of Psalm 147, and praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.

   In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus heals not only Simon’s mother-in-law but all who were ill or possessed by demons, and in so doing, he removes all that stands in the way of their vision of God’s love for them.  Standing at their side, Jesus’ presence is a source of strength, a gift.  

   Like Job, we can be sidetracked by the challenges life brings us, yet, like those in need of healing in the Gospel, we must trust, we must let faith help us define our world, rather than our own limited human reason or experience.  Even Paul, writing to the Corinthians, acknowledges his own limited vision – he is ever challenged to understand what he is to do that will bring lasting meaning to his life.  Paul’s answer lies in preaching the gospel, sharing the good news of salvation of all.

   As he did to the suffering souls of his time, Jesus speaks words of love that help us to overcome all obstacles, that we might believe fully in the salvation that he offers – for this purpose did he come.  Our vision needs to be informed by faith, by the knowledge that God is with us, standing at our side, no matter the trial, no matter the challenge.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordle.net