The Catholic Calendar for Monday, September 27, 2004
Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Vincent de Paul, priest

Scripture from Today's Liturgy of the Word:
Job 1:6-22
Psalm 17:1-3,6-7
Luke 9:46-50

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

Writing this meditation is one of my great fears come true: writing about Job. This book is one of my favorite of all sacred scripture. I have spent many a night searching this book for the answer to many bad things that happen. I always gain a sense of comfort from the story. But my fears come from the fact that no matter how hard I pray, how much I read Job and other scripture, I still struggle with why horrible things happen to many innocent people.

But I want to leave that thought aside for now and look at today's reading. What a wonderful example we have in Job! Every possible catastrophe, short of death, happens to him almost simultaneously, and guess what?

In all this Job did not sin, nor did he say anything disrespectful of God.

How many times do we find ourselves in a bad spot and the first thing out of our mouths is to blame or curse God in some way? Perhaps we should praise Him instead, such as many of our great saints have done when faced with trouble and adversity.

Perhaps if we choose this over blaming and cursing, God will one day say about each of us, "Have you noticed my servant, that there is no one on earth like him. blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil."

Don Claunch, SFO

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posted by joachim at 4:20 AM