Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels

The character of Job, in a sense, represents all of us. Job was a righteous man before God and a very successful man wealthy in land and familial relationships.

In a dialogue in which God brags to the Devil about Job, the Devil presents God with a challenge. He states that Job is righteous because he has everything to make any man happy and virtuous. He affirms that if Job lost everything, his lands, livestock, home, family, and health, Job would falter. God sends various natural phenomena that wipe out his crops, livestock, and home. All of his children are killed in a house collapse. Job is struck with painful skin disease. The more significant part of the Book of Job describes how Job seeks to find meaning for his suffering. He asks the proverbial question, “WHY.”

We all who suffer profoundly ask that same question. The death of a young child, a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer, the horrors of war, the addiction of a loved one to drugs, bankruptcy, the betrayal of a loved one or a spouse, the loss of everything through a natural disaster, or the loss of a job can make us cry from the depth of our hearts, Why?

We are not alone. Jesus cried to his Father from the cross, “Why have you abandoned me?” Each of us has to work through the agony of loss and the need to grieve, not an easy process. It is challenging and exhausting. Jonah, in his reflection, offers some hope and direction “I know that my Redeemer lives and that he will at last stand upon the dust, whom I shall see with my own eyes shall behold him. And from my flesh, I shall behold God, and my innermost is consumed with longing.” It is God who will rescue us.

Let Us Pray:

Creator God, your Son Jesus revealed to us that healing is brought to all of us who suffer through suffering. We pray that you will send abundant grace to all those suffering loss. Heal them with the grace that flows from the Eucharist and give them healing and peace.