Pastor’s Notes

There is an old expression, “as patient as Job,” often describing someone of long suffering.   Turns out, Job is not very patient at all. In the first reading this weekend, chaos erupts and his life spins out of control. He feels he has done nothing to deserve such misery and he tells God in no certain words. He is vocal, even eloquent, in his protest. His lament encourages those of us who feel life has become too burdensome to pray in a similar way.

Some might say this is not a “proper way to speak to God.”

If God is the source of everything and they have led good lives and deserve better, God is standing by doing nothing while they are going through distress. Rather than enter into a “shouting match” with God, they keep silent. But this kind of respectful silence harbors resentment and can create a “chill” in our relationship with God. There is plenty of witness in the Hebrew texts, especially in the psalms, to encourage a more honest expression of our feelings. A complaint to God puts aside false pieties, formalism and “proper etiquette” to express honest feelings to the One who has the power to change things.

There certainly are times in our lives when life seems out of control, as if some evil intent is running the show. We are tempted to ask, “Who’s in charge here?” Many times in the century or so history of St. Mary’s Parish, there have been times of great chaos where the leadership here and the heads of families have felt the same thing. Who is in charge? And the answer? It is the same as it has always been. Not me. Thanks be to God.

We move into Lent on Valentines Day.   We welcome you into our Lenten Scripture Studies, Friday Stations of the Cross, Almsgiving and fasting, Sunday Vespers. It is all “mystical body building,” as an old friend calls it. It is a chance to dust off Baptismal promises to a new brilliance. Hard to know what God will ask of us in the coming year. Like Simon’s mother in law and the disciples in this weekend’s Gospel, we might need to be fast on our feet.

A gentle week,
Fr. Michael Weldon, OFM