Student Daily Reflection

[455] Job 1:6-22
Psalm 17:1bcd, 2-3, 6-7
Luke 9:46-50

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer
The Daily Reflections

Today’s First Reading relates the story of Job. Job was a blessed man. The devil brought great suffering on Job and his family to prove to God Job’s loyalty was rooted only in his blessings. Heroically, Job passed the test of faith. Because of this, he has become the icon for enduring faith despite struggles. In the moments of his deepest grief, Job proclaimed, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!”

When I was a junior in high school, a family member was diagnosed with cancer. They were given six months to live. I didn’t talk about it with anyone. My friends did not even know. The family member wanted everything to stay normal, and, despite the obvious changes in our lives, I wasn’t acting very differently. A few weeks after I learned of the diagnosis, I was volunteering at a youth Catholic Conference. One night we finished our work early and decided to go to one of the talks. We snuck in late and sat in one of the back rows of the Kansas City Verizon Center. There were thousands of people there. Exhausted, I wasn’t paying too much attention to the speaker but then at one point, right as I tuned in, the speaker said, “It’s okay to be angry with God.” My eyes shot up and it felt like all of a sudden, I was the only person in the room. “He can take it,” the speaker said. I felt my shoulders relax a little, my jaw unclench. I hadn’t even noticed I was tense. The speaker went on to explain that our relationship with God cannot be shallow. It is the greatest, deepest most important relationship we will ever form. He explained that, like with our closest family members, we will go through times in our life were we are upset or angry with God, just like we get upset or angry with our sisters and brothers. What defines our relationship with God is that we recognize being angry with God isn’t incompatible with having faith in or loving God. If we work through the difficult times, it will plant our faith more firmly, more deeply. It was one of the most liberating things I have ever heard.

I have always wished I had the acceptance of Job, but now I realize for some of us, especially myself, that acceptance is a process. It is one I work on constantly. It became easier when my family member beat the odds and their cancer. It became harder again when it came back this spring. Trying to justify an all loving God with an imperfect world is a problem philosophers, theologians, and individuals have grappled with throughout the centuries. Job’s model is a reassuring one. Absolute faith, the faith of a little child, is possible. With every prayer, every mass, every good act or wondrous instance of creation I witness I come closer to being able to proclaim,

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!”