Scriptures: Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-13; Mark 1:29-39
I would guess there are days when we, like Job, might say:
“Is not life a drudgery… I have been assigned months of misery; and troubled nights have been allotted to me.”
Today we reflect upon suffering: First bemoaned by Job, and then faced by Jesus.
But in the end Job, after his complaining, Job is able to say: “I know that my redeemer lives. My footsteps have followed close in God’s. I have walked in God’s way without swerving.”
God walks with us, side by side; holding our hand; lifting us up. God is blessing us more than we know, in sickness and in health. God blesses us, in so many ways, but especially:
- With his sacraments
- With the people of our lives
- We to are called to bless one another, especially our sick, for example: with a visit, a phone call, a card…
- As one priest who was 99 said to me when I visited: “Thanks for remembering an old man.”
Maybe today’s liturgy would have us remember two things: God is with us, God cares about you, God wishes to heal us all.
People are waiting for us, to be and bring Christ to them.
As Jesus said in today’s Gospel, may we also be able to say: “For this reason have I come.”