26 September 2016
Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
There are not many instances in Sacred Scripture where God brags about someone. Yet, today, as the first reading is proclaimed, we hear God bragging about His servant Job and how there is no one like him on earth. (Jb 1:8) Satan contends that Job only fears God because he has not experienced any suffering. So, all Job’s wealth of oxen, sheep, and camels, even his children are taken from Him. Job’s response is to weep, but not to curse. Rather, he cries out, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!” (Jb 1:21)
From the first moment of his sufferings to the last, Job has the noble qualities of a child which Christ identifies with in today’s Gospel. (Lk 9:48) God can brag about Job, because He knows that Job does not reverence Him in order to get some material gain. Rather, Job’s eyes are on the Giver whom the gifts have shown him, rather than on the gifts themselves. So too, a child, for all the stock that he may put in gifts received, always cares more about the giver of the gifts.
Let us thank God for what He has given us, and show our gratitude in generously sharing what He has given. Let us use what we have been given to realize how great is God’s love, rather than to focus blindly on what we have rather than on the One who holds all things in His hands. Then there will arise among us no fighting for ‘being greatest’ over and against others. Instead we will focus on being in union with the One who is the greatest, and who dwells amongst us.