20160926 SURRENDERING EVERYTHING TO THE LORD IN TRUST AND
CONFIDENCE IN HIS LOVE AND WISDOM
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Job 1:6-22 ©
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One day the Sons of
God came to attend on the Lord, and among them was Satan. So the Lord said to
Satan, ‘Where have you been?’ ‘Round the earth,’ he answered ‘roaming about.’
So the Lord asked him, ‘Did you notice my servant Job? There is no one like him
on the earth: a sound and honest man who fears God and shuns evil.’ ‘Yes,’
Satan said ‘but Job is not God-fearing for nothing, is he? Have you not put a
wall round him and his house and all his domain? You have blessed all he
undertakes, and his flocks throng the countryside. But stretch out your hand
and lay a finger on his possessions: I warrant you, he will curse you to your
face.’ ‘Very well,’ the Lord said to Satan ‘all he has is in your power. But
keep your hands off his person.’ So Satan left the presence of the Lord.
On the
day when Job’s sons and daughters were at their meal and drinking wine at their
eldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job. ‘Your oxen’ he said ‘were at
the plough, with the donkeys grazing at their side, when the Sabaeans swept
down on them and carried them off. Your servants they put to the sword: I alone
escaped to tell you.’ He had not finished speaking when another messenger
arrived. ‘The fire of God’ he said ‘has fallen from the heavens and burnt up
all your sheep, and your shepherds too: I alone escaped to tell you.’ He had
not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. ‘The Chaldaeans,’ he said
‘three bands of them, have raided your camels and made off with them. Your
servants they put to the sword: I alone escaped to tell you.’ He had not
finished speaking when another messenger arrived. ‘Your sons and daughters’ he
said ‘were at their meal and drinking wine at their eldest brother’s house,
when suddenly from the wilderness a gale sprang up, and it battered all four
corners of the house which fell in on the young people. They are dead: I alone
escaped to tell you.’
Job rose
and tore his gown and shaved his head. Then falling to the ground he worshipped
and said:
‘Naked I came from my
mother’s womb,
naked I shall return.
The Lord gave, the
Lord has taken back.
Blessed be the name
of the Lord!’
In all this
misfortune Job committed no sin nor offered any insult to God.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 16:1-3,6-7
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Turn your ear to
me, O Lord; hear my words.
Lord, hear a cause
that is just,
pay heed
to my cry.
Turn your ear to my
prayer:
no deceit
is on my lips.
Turn your ear to
me, O Lord; hear my words.
From you may my
judgement come forth.
Your eyes
discern the truth.
You search my heart,
you visit me by night.
You test
me and you find in me no wrong.
Turn your ear to
me, O Lord; hear my words.
I am here and I call,
you will hear me, O God.
Turn your
ear to me; hear my words.
Display your great
love, you whose right hand saves
your
friends from those who rebel against them.
Turn your ear to
me, O Lord; hear my words.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn14:6
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to
the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Mk10:45
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The Son of Man came
to serve
and to give his life
as a ransom for many.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 9:46-50 ©
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An argument started
between the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Jesus knew what
thoughts were going through their minds, and he took a little child and set him
by his side and then said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes this little child in my
name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For
the least among you all, that is the one who is great.’
John
spoke up. ‘Master,’ he said ‘we saw a man casting out devils in your name, and
because he is not with us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘You
must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.’
SURRENDERING
EVERYTHING TO THE LORD IN TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN HIS LOVE AND WISDOM
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ JOB 1:6-22; LUKE 9:46-50 ]
Is it not true that most of
us are devoted to God only because He has blessed us materially and
physically? If not for the hope of His blessings and His protection from
the evil one, would we be serving Him in Church and in His community? This was
the contention of Satan when he disputed the integrity of Job whom God claimed,
is “a sound and honest man who fears God and shuns evil.”
Well,
what the devil says is perhaps true for many of us. We only love God and
serve Him in good times. So long as God blesses us with security, wealth,
health and status, we are happy to declare that He is a Wonderful, Mighty God
and Counselor. But will we still be faithful to Him in the face of
suffering? Or will we resent Him, especially when we suffer tragedies,
failure or disappointment? Will we give up our belief that He is a
loving, all powerful and wise God when suffering comes our way? Do we
come to Him only because He gives us what we want rather than because we want
to give Him what He wants?
Well,
the apostles apparently also served Jesus for the wrong reasons. The
gospel tells us that they were arguing over position and status. Sure,
they wanted to follow Jesus and serve Him, but underlying their professed
intention was their hidden agenda of seeking power, glory and
recognition. In spite of Jesus’ reprimand and exhortation to be like
children, their desire to control and to dominate surfaced again when they
wanted to stop “a man casting out devils” in His name, simply because he was
not one of them. Is religion a means to power over others?
In
contrast, we have the example of Job who is truly the exemplar of faith in God,
a faith that was unshaken by trials and tribulations. Despite losing his
possessions and even his children, one after another, in continuous succession,
he remained resilient in his faith. Instead of cursing God, Job resigned
himself all the more to God. “In all this misfortune Job committed no sin nor
offered any insult to God.”
Where is the source of his
unshakeable faith? It was his absolute faith in the power and love of
God. He knew that all that he had were gifts from God and not his right.
Instead of lamenting that he had lost his possessions, he was thankful that God
had even given them to him at all. He knew, unlike us, that everything he
had, even his loved ones, were gifts of God and were on loan. Everything he had
and all that he was, belonged to God alone. Undoubtedly then his devotion
to God was not the consequence of the blessings of security that he received
from Him, but because of his faith and love.
But why
does God permit such suffering to take place when He loves us? Suffering remains
a mystery beyond our understanding. Again, it boils down to the question
of freedom in love. If God allows Satan to tempt us and also gives us the
freedom to act accordingly, it is because love entails freedom. By giving
us our freedom, God is not only respecting us, but He is also showing His
confidence in us. As superiors or parents, isn’t it true that when we
give freedom to our subordinates or our children, it is a sign of our
confidence in them that they will choose wisely and rightly? Otherwise we
will use rules and laws to control them. But just because they behave and
keep the rules does not mean that they are mature, for they could observe them
out of fear and coercion. So in giving freedom to our children, we are
telling them that even if they were to choose wrongly, we allow mistakes as
part of their maturing process and at the same time we know that they will be
judicious in making decisions for their own good.
Nevertheless,
giving our subordinates the freedom to choose and even to make mistakes does
not mean that we abandon them to their fate. Rather, we continue to guide
them gently and encourage them, even when they fail to be faithful. If
that should be the way we groom our young and those under our care, how much more
would God continue to support us and give us the grace to be faithful to
Him? And even when we disappoint Him at times, He is always there to
forgive us and give us strength to pull ourselves together and start all over
again.
What is
needed is that we have the humility to turn to Him for empowerment and for
mercy, like the psalmist. He said, “Incline your ear to me and hear my
word. I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me;
hear my word. Show your wondrous mercies, O savior of those who flee from their
foes to refuge at your right hand.” In the gospel, this need for humility
is reinforced when Jesus reprimanded His disciples who were seeking to be
great. Unless we are like little children, receptive to God’s Word,
docile to His grace and most of all, trusting in the providential love of our
heavenly Father, we will easily be discouraged in the face of failure and
trials. But if we are childlike in our disposition towards God, we will
never have to fear that He will abandon us or punish us when we sin, since
every parent is forgiving of their children and holds no grudges.
Secondly,
with the humility of a child, we will be able to recognize Christ and God’s
wisdom in our sufferings and failures. Jesus tells us, “Anyone who
welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me
welcomes the one who sent me. For the least among you all, that is the one who
is great.” It implies that only with a child-like faith can we see the
hand of God in insignificant events or even in unpleasant situations at
work. What the world considers as unimportant or irrelevant, for God
everything is done in accordance with His divine plan and wisdom. There
is nothing on this earth or nothing that we can do to disrupt His purpose for creation.
Indeed,
let us imitate the undaunting spirit of Job whenever suffering comes our
way. Instead of focusing on our sufferings and our losses, let us in our
affliction remember the good times and good things the Lord has given to
us. We must not forget that whatever has been given to us is on
loan. We do not and cannot hold on to the temporal things of this earth
forever. Whilst we have them, let us be grateful and use them well.
When we are deprived of them, we must learn to let go as well. We must
remember we are but pilgrims on this earth.
Thomas
A. Kempis in the “Imitation of Christ” has this advice to offer us. “As
Scripture says, ‘In the day of prosperity do not forget affliction, and in the
day of affliction, do not forget prosperity.’ Whoever, in the moment of
receiving God’s gifts but forgets to fear possible affliction, will be brought
low by his presumption. Equally, whoever in the moment of suffering fails to
take comfort from the gifts which has been his lot to receive, is thrown down
from the steadfastness of his mind and despairs. The two must be united so that
each may always have the other’s support, so that both remembrance of the gift
may moderate the pain of the blow and fear of the blow may moderate exuberance
at receiving the gift. Thus the holy man, to soothe the depression of his mind
amidst his wounds, weighs the sweetness of the gifts against the pains of
affliction, saying ‘If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we
not receive evil?’”
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