January 29, 2012 The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Job spoke, saying: Is not man′s life on earth drudgery? Are not his days those of hirelings? I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been allotted to me. If in bed I say, "When shall I arise?" then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn. My days are swifter than a weaver′s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again. (Job 7:1-7)

We can all identify with the lament of Job in the first reading. Having been struck with great personal misfortune and family tragedy, Job complains that life does not seem worth living. Faced with the struggle of suffering, Job wearies of continuing life′s labors, sinking into a mud of lethargic indifference. Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again. We, too, have moments in our lives when we experience suffering and loss. Perhaps the loss is acute but sometimes, it is simply the routine of life which wears away the joy of life, leaving nothing but the remnants of world weariness in its wake. At such times, as people of faith, we turn to God with our own "Job-like" queries: Why me? What′s life all about? Where are you, God?

Such questions about God and suffering are perennial. At the heart of our faith′s response to such questions is the person of Christ. Think about it this way. In His nature, God cannot suffer, because He is an Omnipotent God. So we might think God is indifferent or even powerless to our suffering. But in the person of Jesus Christ, the One who cannot suffer chooses to suffer with us. The word compassion means "to suffer with." (com-with/passio-suffer). In this week′s Gospel, we see the compassion of Christ come alive. Beginning with Peter′s mother-in-law, Jesus heals all who come to him with affliction of body, soul and spirit. And yet Christ′s mission was not simply to heal, but to save us. His suffering and death is the means by which we are saved, and more, it is when we suffer that we can be connected to His loving compassion. As Pope Benedict says in his letter Spe Salvi (Saved By Hope): We are worth so much to God that he himself became man in order to suffer with us in an utterly real way—in flesh and blood—as is revealed to us in the account of His Passion. Hence in all human suffering, we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us. Hence con-solatio is present in all suffering, the consolation of God′s compassionate love—and so the star of hope rises. (Spe Salvi 29)

Hope. Hope is the virtue that enables us to persevere, to keep going despite the labors and weariness of life′s travails. As we face the trials and difficulties of this week, we turn to our Lord the Great Compassionate Physician and we ask for the consolation of His continued presence along our journey home.
∼ Fr. Michael