Basic HTML Version
Memorial of the Guardian Angels
Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23
Psalms 88:2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8
Matthew 18:1-5, 10
S
UMMARY
AND
R
EFLECTION
Although Job is usually considered basically a study of the patience and endur-
ance required of a notably righteous man, it is the prime example of a time when
bad things happen to good people. In this excerpt however, Job does some ma-
jor complaining, spending some time pointing to each event when it would have
been better if he had never been conceived, cursing the fact that he had even
been born, and born alive. He is reminded of royalty dead and forgotten and
even evil men who desire to die and cannot. To them the grave is a blessing
from God. Who among us has not felt the same at the death of a loved one,
even a baby with no chance for a full life? We too, have wondered where God is
at such times, a loving, compassionate Lord on whom we depend for everything
in life, but maybe not the sorrows. God has promised us eternal life but not a
perfect present one. For Job, there was not yet a cross for him to pick up and
carry after his Savior ˀ not yet. How much luckier we are!
It˅s as if Job continues his lament about his poor, poor life. It˅s again like we
understand all his woes when we lose out on a promotion, a love, a promised joy
in our lives. We think we˅re doing everything right ˀ Masses, rosaries, dona-
tions, holding onto our tempers, loving my neighbor with his raucous kids, and
barking dogs. Where is my God when I call upon him for help? Why am I being
punished for nothing ˀ well, almost nothing? This is beginning to sound very
scary.
Perhaps this is the warning we all need: as Golda Maier said, ˈDon˅t be humble.
You˅re not that good.ˉ Being childlike is not the same as being childish. Being
childlike means believing in God˅s promises, having faith in His Word, praying as