- Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi
Luke 10:13-16
Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5
Psalm 139:1-3, 7-8, 9-10, 13-14ab
Luke 10:13-16
Jesus said to them,
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented,
sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon
at the judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum, 'Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the netherworld.'
Whoever listens to you listens to me.
Whoever rejects you rejects me.
And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
Opening Prayer: Lord God, the mystery of suffering surpasses my understanding. I am unable to fathom why you permit evil and suffering in this world. And yet I trust in you. You know all things and govern all things according to your eternal plan. Increase my faith and trust in you!
Encountering the Word of God
1. Why God Permits Us to be Chastened: All this week, the First Reading has been taken from the Book of Job, which deals with how God’s providence governs human affairs. One of the difficulties that the book addresses concerns an argument against divine providence. It seems like the righteous and just are afflicted with evil here on earth without cause. Job’s three friends – Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar – all tried to figure out why Job, a seemingly just and virtuous man, suffered so many grave afflictions. Eliphaz, for example, held that Job’s sufferings were a punishment from God on account of Job’s sins (Job 4:7, 17). Eliphaz thought that the innocent do not suffer and that if Job was innocent, God would deliver Job from his troubles. Job answered Eliphaz that he was unaware of having committed any wrongdoing or evil (Job 6:24, 30). Throughout the conversations with his friends, Job adamantly maintained his integrity. However, when Job’s three friends finished speaking, a fourth person, a young man named Elihu, spoke. He was angry at Job because Job tried to justify himself rather than God. He was also angry at the three friends because they found no answer to the problem and simply declared that Job was in the wrong (32:2-3). Elihu argued that God speaks to man to turn him aside from evil deeds and to cut off pride from man. God does this to keep man from falling into the Pit and losing his life. When chastened by pain, man turns to God in prayer and enters into God’s presence with joy and recounts to men his salvation (33:26). Elihu concluded that God is just and Job is wrong to proclaim his self-righteousness.
2. The Invitation to Humility Before the Mystery of Suffering: The First Reading follows Elihu’s speech to Job. We finally hear God speak to Job and answer him out of the whirlwind. First, God proclaims his power and manifests it through his creation. This power greatly surpasses Job, who was not there when God laid the foundation of the world, who did not set the limits of the sea, who does not have power over day and night, and who has limited knowledge of the animals of the earth. Job can only respond to this: “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?” Job fell silent and awaited God’s word a second time. This time, God asks Job why Job has challenged Him and why Job has condemned him so that he can be justified. Job can only respond to God with humility and repentance. He says: “I have uttered what I did not understand; I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” The Lord accepts Job's repentance, rebukes Job’s three friends, and restores Job's fortunes twofold. The Book of Job, then, does not come to a definitive answer about the problem of why good men and women suffer. However, it does affirm two basic truths: on the one hand, it affirms God’s power, justice, and wisdom. All things are in God’s hands, he acts with justice and guides all things. He creates them and governs them. On the other hand, man should not be self-righteous or think he understands all things. Contemplating God's creation and the fact that man himself is one of God's creatures should lead to humility of heart and filial trust in God.
3. Rejecting Jesus: With the coming of Jesus Christ and his Passion and death, a more complete understanding of the problem of suffering is possible. Because of their sin, human beings were in need of redemption. Jesus is the innocent one, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world and forges a New Covenant that can never be broken. The New Covenant includes the forgiveness of sins, the food for Eternal Life, and the purifying Blood of Christ. This is the Good News that Jesus brought and preached. Today, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus condemns the cities that reject him and the message preached by the seventy disciples. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities that were often the object of judgment by the prophets of old. However, neither city was privileged to witness the mighty works that the towns of Galilee – Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum – saw. Had the Phoenician cities seen the mighty works of Jesus and his disciples, they would have repented. The three cities of Galilee, however, refused to believe. They heard the Word but did not understand it, and instead of welcoming the Word, they rejected it.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I do not reject you. I welcome you today and ask that you reign in my heart, in my family, in my workplace, and in my community. You are everything to me. Without you, I can do nothing, but with you, I can do all things!
Living the Word of God: Today’s Liturgy of the Word is both a warning and an invitation. It warns us about the danger of a prideful heart that justifies itself and a hardened heart that refuses to believe. The invitation, then, is to become like a child who is simple of heart and to welcome the Word of God in faith and love.