Daily Retreat 10/01/08
2008 Oct 1 Wed: Thérèse of Lisieux, v, r, dr M
Jb 9: 1-12. 14-16/ Ps 87(88): 10bc-11. 12-13. 14-15/ Lk 9: 57-62
From today’s readings: “God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood Him and remained unscathed?... Let my prayer come before You, Lord.... No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
Got God Figured Out?
In the central chapters of the Book of Job, the protagonist’s friends confront him with various philosophical and theological attempts to explain and understand his suffering, but Job is always able to point out inconsistencies and insufficiencies in the suggested explanations.
In his reflections, Job maintains the central insight that God is simply infinitely greater than we are - we really cannot ever pretend to have Him figured out, or even imagine that we can sufficiently take into account all the aspects of the messy and complicated elements even of our own lives. At the end of the book, Job gets a not-so-subtle reminder from God about his own insight!
Someone once suggested that the Book of Job (and even the entire Old Testament) can be summarized as God teaching and repeatedly reminding His people that “I’m God - you’re not! Get over it!” While that’s not the whole story, of course, the insight does sum up one of the most crucial lessons in the Bible. St. Thérèse of Lisieux and other faithful followers of Christ learned well the lessons of humility in order to paradoxically live out God’s great plan in their lives. For us, then, it’s just a matter of letting God be God in our lives, which is only possible when we have the humility to realize, in every way, that no one of us is God!
Jb 9: 1-12. 14-16/ Ps 87(88): 10bc-11. 12-13. 14-15/ Lk 9: 57-62
From today’s readings: “God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood Him and remained unscathed?... Let my prayer come before You, Lord.... No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
Got God Figured Out?
In the central chapters of the Book of Job, the protagonist’s friends confront him with various philosophical and theological attempts to explain and understand his suffering, but Job is always able to point out inconsistencies and insufficiencies in the suggested explanations.
In his reflections, Job maintains the central insight that God is simply infinitely greater than we are - we really cannot ever pretend to have Him figured out, or even imagine that we can sufficiently take into account all the aspects of the messy and complicated elements even of our own lives. At the end of the book, Job gets a not-so-subtle reminder from God about his own insight!
Someone once suggested that the Book of Job (and even the entire Old Testament) can be summarized as God teaching and repeatedly reminding His people that “I’m God - you’re not! Get over it!” While that’s not the whole story, of course, the insight does sum up one of the most crucial lessons in the Bible. St. Thérèse of Lisieux and other faithful followers of Christ learned well the lessons of humility in order to paradoxically live out God’s great plan in their lives. For us, then, it’s just a matter of letting God be God in our lives, which is only possible when we have the humility to realize, in every way, that no one of us is God!
posted by FrPitstick | 9/29/2008
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