If you don't follow football, you might try this approach: find something you don’t like about one team, and cheer for the other team: for example, the color of the uniform. Or choose a city in which you had a good experience, Boston or Philadelphia, and root for that team. This can make your evening pass quickly!
The Book of Job takes us back in our imaginations to the wisdom literature of Ancient Israel. Biblical scholars describe this book as a poetic drama dealing with the problem of evil and yet offering no easy answers.
The Book brings us face to face with the mystery of suffering and evil. As the drama unfolds, Job has everything he could possibly want: health, wealth, family and friends. But gradually he loses everything and ends up a broken man, and taunted by his so-called friends. Job asks: How could this happen to me? But the better question might be, not how this could have happened, but how will I respond? How will I deal with it? Job’s “friends” say he must “deserve it.” But Job claims innocence.
And then God speaks to Job in a whirlwind. God doesn’t answer Job’s question at all: Why do bad things happen to good people? Job in so many words cries out: I don’t understand. And God says: That’s right, you don’t understand. God doesn’t answer Job's question; he simply lets Job experience God’s awesome presence in some mystical way.
In the final analysis, the author offers no satisfactory answer to the mystery of suffering and evil. Nonetheless, our faith in Jesus Christ, risen, alive and among us, proclaims loudly that suffering and death are not the final reality; healing and new life and resurrection are the final reality.
In the meantime the living Christ challenges us to fight against evil and suffering, to heal, console, forgive and create compassionate communities where people can experience fairness in their dealings with one another, tolerance and not intolerance, truth and not lies and equal opportunities to become their better selves. That's the challenge.
Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Corinth in Greece describes his one passion in life: proclaiming the Good News: Jesus, risen, alive and among us; and yes, his resurrection the guarantee of our own eternal life.
Preaching the Gospel energized Paul. So we might ask: what energizes us? What fires us up? Where do we find meaning? In our family? Our job? Volunteer service? Our experiences, whether sports, friends, music, reading or nature? Probably we find meaning and purpose in all of these.
But eventually we have to find meaning in the mystery of our own dying where we will have to let go of everything we have—yes, our very lives-- in that leap of faith into the darkness of death and, as our faith testifies, into the hands of a God who loves us unconditionally. It's a letting go much like a circus trapeze performer, who trusts his fellow artist will catch him in midair. Yes, Paul may be asking us how do we find meaning in life?
In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus makes a house call to Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus cures her, and she immediately prepares dinner. Townspeople suddenly appear with their sick ones. Jesus continues to work signs and wonders, healings and exorcisms that signal the in-breaking of the kingdom of God.
Imagine if we were at Capernaum that day. What so called “demon” or “addiction” or character flaw (e.g., greed, lying, prejudice or hate) would we ask Jesus to drive out of us?
I believe Jesus not only cured the bodies of sick people, but he also healed their souls. There's a difference; think about it. A life-threatening illness, for example, can trigger questions about the meaning of life, what truly matters, what I should stop doing and begin doing. That's a healing of the soul without necessarily a cure of the body. Such soul healings transform our attitudes and behaviors and reconnect us to God and one another in new ways.
But the point I want to make is this: God through Jesus by the power of the Spirit has transformed us into new creatures through the waters of baptism. St. Paul captured this transformation magnificently when he wrote to the Christian community in Galatia: “Christ lives in me.” And the living Christ sends us out among others to live in a manner worthy of our calling, to treat all God’s creatures with respect—especially human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, no matter how unattractive they may appear.
Now what precisely does “sent out to others” mean? Every one of us has gifts or talents that can help other people become their better selves. Football quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Nick Foles, or actors like Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman, are not the only people with gifts or talents. You and I have special gifts and talents, especially by virtue of our baptism. We possess the power: to believe in a God who loves us unconditionally, to hope in a future beyond death, and to love one another. And within our common life, there are many splendid callings.
I love the image of “a thousand points of light.” God can shine through us with transcendent brilliance through who we are and what we do. We can become one of those points of light.
Businessperson, white-collar or blue-collar, married or single, whoever we are, we are called to serve one another, to be an example of integrity, compassion and generosity to others, so that they can become, with God's grace, their better selves.
Yes, God has given each of us gifts. Let us rejoice in these gifts, as the Virgin Mary rejoiced in hers. And use our gifts and talents in service to others. And then we, with God’s grace, will realize our authentic potential as sons and daughters of God our Father, co-heirs to eternal life.
I close with a prayerful thought that sums up the search for our authentic self:
Fortunate are the persons,
Who in this life can find,
A purpose that can fill their days
And goals to fill their mind.
For in this world there is a need,
For those who’ll lead the rest,
To rise above the “average” life,
By giving of their best!
Will you be one, who dares to try
When challenged by the task,
To rise to heights you’ve never seen,
Or is that too much to ask?
May we each realize that, in the end, the purpose of our baptismal calling is to matter, to make a difference for the better by giving the best we have in service to others! And then we will realize with God’s grace our authentic selves.
