At any given point of time, we find ourselves face-to-face with storms big or small: interpersonal, social, political, economic, psychological, spiritual. That is the stuff of life. We may eventually learn to weather the storms, but there are times when we fail to bounce back. Then, if humble enough, we may turn to God and ride it out. Thus, a storm acts as a reminder that God truly exists…
The backstory of God’s faithful servant Job, in the First Reading (Job 38: 1, 8-11), is not that he disbelieves; on the contrary, he is an upright man, firmly committed to God. Why, then, does he lose everything – family, wealth and even health? His suffering hurts the core of his being. He wonders why he is at the receiving end. Might he have secretly or even if unknowingly displeased God? At any rate, he is angry and questions the Almighty.
God’s response to Job is the crux of today’s text. Evidently, Job was acting as a judge in his own case. God demands to know if he can explain every phenomenon of the universe. If not, why question His designs? The virtue of hope lets life’s events cause wonder and love, and not dwindle into distress and despair. Before long, Job understands that there is more than meets the eye. He sees that back from the day of Original Sin suffering has been an inseparable part of life; and that God is beyond human understanding.
To sustain life, we need to make a leap of faith. It was something that even the disciples had failed to do at first, so we know it is never easy. In the Gospel text (Mk 4: 35-41) they are baffled, not to say outraged, by Jesus’ indifference to their boat rocking in the rough sea. For His part, the Lord wants his disciples to ask for help – to pray! – so He might promptly assist them. His command ‘Be still!’ was not magical but divine. Did they realise they were before the Creator Himself? Filled with awe, they said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey Him?’
A question that Jesus put to His disciples, He puts to you and me today. When we face trouble and our faith vacillates, He asks: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?’ These very questions, coming as they do from Jesus’ mouth, are so reassuring; they suggest that Jesus is ever ready to help us. ‘Who then is this?’ Yes, we must get to know Him more closely, seek a personal encounter and establish a deep rapport with Him, confide in Him… Not that problems or sufferings will vanish, but we will learn to trust in Him through thick and thin. And what’s more, it will bring us peace of heart.
As the lyrics of that hymn make it clear, ‘No one can give to me that peace that my Risen Lord, my Risen King can give…’ And when God is with us, who can be against us? We have to make an effort to rise above ourselves. Then, no storm will shake us, no battle, rattle us. Hence, St Paul in the Second Reading (Cor 5: 14-17) exhorts us to be ‘in Christ’, for ‘if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.’ Elsewhere, the Apostle famously said, ‘It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me’ (Gal 2: 20).
All in all, we must abstain from a business-like relationship with God – that is, seek Him only when we are in trouble. We cannot be like the sailor who, when caught in a tempest, said: ‘Help me, O Lord, and save me just this time; be sure I will never knock at your door again.’
Never knock at the Lord’s door ever again? Ours is a valley of tears where troubles are a staple of life. Indeed, we must cry to the Lord in good times and in bad. Needless to say, He is with us and rescues us from our distress (Cf. Ps 28-29). The weaker we feel, the stronger is His support – when we live through Him, with Him, in Him. Our Lord has said: ‘I will be with you till the end of times’ (Mt 28: 20); He leads us to a safe haven. His must be the final victory. Instaurare Omnia in Christo: we have to restore all things in Christ.
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The last few words from your 3rd paragraph – “… and that God is beyond human understanding” – echoed what I have been saying to myself, ever more insistently, as I contemplate the time of my departure. The desire to know God is overwhelming. But in God’s Infinite Wisdom, God chose to remain Incognito!
And so we now have humanity struggling to find God or at least have a glimpse of the Divine, each epoch, each individual, doing one’s best. The very answer to Job, also in para 3, confirms this. Little wonder that, in final analysis, humanity is adrift. We are condemned to be the eternal “pilgrims”. At this time it is worth remembering that our planet is but a “Pale Blue Dot’ hanging on a beam of light in the Cosmos (to quote Carl Sagan). Thank you, Óscar. Your weekly blogs reveal admirable Faith and are a solace to read.
Dear António, thank you very much for your comments. Precisely because of the yawning gap between heaven and earth, God sent us His Only Son Jesus, who said, ‘If you know me, you will know my Father also.’ And no scientist can claim to have fully understood the universe either, or anything else for that matter. Interestingly, as regards the Pale Blue Dot, the Voyager team ‘wanted humanity to see Earth’s vulnerability and that our home world is just a tiny, fragile speck in the cosmic ocean.’ So, given our limitedness, we will remain, as you rightly said, eternal pilgrims. May God continue to bless us all in our desire to know Him better and better every day.