In my last two posts, “… let us be attentive” and “Sacred Study – Journey into the Truth” I attempted to portray one aspect of the Spirit-filled and directed Way which is the very life of the reigning Christ Jesus within us and in our midst as the Church and individual believers. My emphasis was on the role of attentiveness, remembrance, and openness to and commitment to addressing the transformative questions the Holy Spirit brings before us.
One might ask, “What does that look like in real life?” A fair question… Today, in the assigned readings from “The Two Year Lectionary Patristic Vigil Readings,” St. Gregory the Great addresses this very question. He gives the example of Job. Job was faithfully attentive; had a spirit of remembrance; and was open to honestly addressing the probing questions put before him by the Holy Spirit in the midst of extremely difficult circumstances.
How can I do better than St. Gregory?! Here is his reflection …
“When Job lost everything, at Almighty’s God decree, to preserve his peace of mind he remembered the time when he did not yet possess the things he had now lost; in that way, by realising more and more clearly that once he had not had them, he would the more easily moderate his grief over their loss. For indeed whenever we lose something it can be a great consolation to call to mind the days when we did not have it.
So, then, the blessed Job, wishing to cultivate patience as he bewails his losses, carefully considers to what state he is now reduced. To enhance his peace of mind he ponders yet more closely his origins, saying as he does so: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I shall return whence I came. In other words, the earth produced me naked, and naked will receive me back when I leave it. Since therefore the things I have lost were only what I had received and must leave behind, what have I lost that really belonged to me? But then, because consolation derives not only from thinking about one’s condition but also about the Creator’s uprightness, he is right to add: The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away; as it has pleased the Lord, so has he wrought.
He well says, as it has pleased the Lord. For since in this world we have to put up with things we do not like, it is necessary that we should accommodate our best endeavours to him who cannot will anything that is unjust. If therefore we know that what is just and equitable pleases the Lord, and that we can suffer nothing but what is pleasing to him, then all our sufferings must for that reason be justly and fairly imposed: and it would therefore be very unjust of us to grumble at them.
We should note that, having got all that right, Job ends by praising God. This was so that his adversary might realise, overcome by shame at seeing Job’s plight, that his own attitude in his prosperity is one of contempt for God, the same God to whom even this man, now fallen on evil times, can nevertheless sing a hymn of praise. We should realise that the enemy of our race can smite us with as many of his darts as there are temptations for him to afflict us with. For we do battle daily; and daily his onslaught of temptations rains down on us. But we in turn can fire our darts against him if, while buried in our tribulations, we will but react in humility. Thus Job, although suffering in material things, is still a blessed and happy man.
We should not think that our champion merely receives wounds without inflicting any in return. Indeed, every prayer of patience offered by the sufferer in God’s praise is a dart turned against the enemy’s breast: and a much sharper blow is thereby struck than the one sustained. For the man in his afflictions loses only earthly goods, whereas in bearing humbly with his afflictions he has increased many times over his stock in heaven.”St. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, 2.17.30-18.31 (SC 32bis:203-205); “Word in Season VII”
Job was attentive to the Lord’s presence and work in the midst of his circumstances, difficult and seemingly void of the Lord’s presence and provision. He was open to the Holy Spirit’s challenge to ask salvific questions in the midst of the very same circumstances and “go the distance” in faithful obedience to what the Lord revealed to him.
God Bless you today and everyday with the grace to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in being conformed to the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ like unto Job,
Fr. Thomas
Upward Call -- Gleanings On The Way 