In the traditional liturgy of the Catholic Church it is customary at this time of the liturgical year for the readings at Sunday Mass and at Sunday Office to be taken from the Book of Ecclesiasticus or Job. Commenting on this, St. Gregory says: "There are men all athirst for passing joys who are ignorant or indifferent where eternal blessings are concerned. Poor wretches! They congratulate themselves on possessing the good things of this life without regretting those of above, which they have lost.. Fashioned for light and truth, they never lift up the eyes of the soul; never betray the smallest desire or longing for the contemplation of their eternal home. Giving themselves over to the pleasures among which they are thrown, they bestow their affection upon a dreary place of exile as if it were their fatherland; and surrounded by darkness, they are full of rejoicing as if they were illumined by a brilliant light. On the other hand the elect, in whose eyes fleeting goods are of no value, seek after those for which their souls were made. Kept in this world by the bonds of the flesh, each, none the less, is carried in spirit beyond it while making the wholesome resolve to despise the passing things of time, and to desire the things which endure for eternity."
As for Job, he is set before us in Holy Scripture as the very type of a man detached from the goods of this world. "If," said he, "we have received good things at the hands of God, why should we not receive evil?... The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away... Blessed be the name of the Lord." The lessons from the Book of Job, deal with the experience of this pious and wealthy personage of the land of Hus, endowed at first with every blessing, but suddenly overwhelmed with the most frightful calamities which mortal man can endure.
To summarise the Scripture narrative, Satan presented himself one day before God, and said: "I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it, and have seen how Thou hast protected Job and his house, and all that he possesses. But stretch forth Thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath: and see if he will not curse Thee to Thy face. Then the Lord said to Satan, "Behold all that he hath is in thy hand; only spare his life." And very soon Job had lost his flocks, his goods and his family, while he himself was stricken by Satan with " a very grievous" ulcer, from the "sole of the foot even to the top of his head".
Bearing in mind Satan's malice, the Church makes us ask that we may be defended "against all the attacks of the evil one". His is the kingdom of death, and if almighty God allowed him his way, he would rob all beings of the life they possess. St Paul speaks of an infliction from which he suffered as "an angel of Satan sent to buffet me". And as we read in Holy Scripture, it was the devil who reduced Job to such a state that the holy man could cry: "Hell is my house: and I have made my bed in darkness. I have said to rottenness - 'thou art my father; to worms - my mother and sister.' My flesh is consumed like a worm-eaten garment, and my bones cleave to my skin.."
Further, the Church applies to the dead the pressing appeal which Job made on this occasion to his friends. "Have pity upon me, you at least my friends, for the hand of the Lord hath stricken me." But his call met with no response and Job turns towards God and cries with a firm hope: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be clothed again with my skin: and in my flesh shall I see God. Whom I myself shall see and my eyes shall behold and not another. This my hope, is laid up in my bosom."
Job also describes the joy with which he will one day hear the voice of God calling him to a new life: "Thou shalt call me and I will answer Thee; to the work of Thy hands Thou wilt reach out Thy right hand." And the Lord accepted the face of Job ... And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before ... And the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning. (Ack.'St.Andrew's Daily Missal. imp.1952)
The experience of Job is one which is shared in some way and to some degree by all of us, for the very nature of our lives involves both suffering and joy, resignation and hope. However the essential factor for Job was that he recognised his sufferings as ordained by God, and in spite of apparently losing everything, he remained a loyal and faithful servant of God, openly proclaiming God's Majesty and divine Kingship over his life, and always filled with divine hope and trust in God's will. We know that God was well pleased, and rewarded Job for his loyalty and trust. Unfortunately so many in today's world have no love nor even belief in Almighty God, and the idea of bearing a cross willingly in this life for His honour and glory, never occurs to them. Thus we have a world largely without God, ignorant and devoid of divine hope, and in which God's love for humanity is unrecognised and unreciprocated. Job's humility and acceptance of all that God willed for him, is a lesson for us all. We desperately seek peace, love and happiness, in our lives, during the course of which we will inevitably experience our own crosses of pain and suffering. We should not complain or criticise God, but instead reciprocate Job's words:- "If we have received good things at the hands of God, why should we not receive evil?... The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away... Blessed be the name of the Lord."
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