This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
We tend to divide our fellow humans into binary categories: Rich/poor, intelligent/less intelligent, successful/unsuccessful, etc.
From the perspective of eternal values, one useful (albeit simplistic) division is: Those who trust in God’s Providence and abandon their lives into God’s hands, and those who don’t–those who try to achieve success and happiness all on their own. Of course, like anything else, there is a limitless spectrum of degrees in between. Many of us trust God, but find ourselves wrenching the steering wheel out of His hands again and again and trying to take control of our lives, severely hampering the fruits of our trust.
When telling us to love our enemies in Mt. 5, Jesus points out how God takes care of everyone, good and bad: “He makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” (Mt. 5:45)
This may lead us to believe that God curates each life in an equally proactive manner. Then we may ask ourselves why some lead the most tragic and unhappy lives, why some people’s lives seem to be one random tragedy after another.
Of course, it must be said up front that those who place their lives in God’s hands don’t necessarily find themselves with more prosperity, ease, and predictability in this life.
But at the same time, when we consciously and consistently place our trust in God, it gives Him permission to curate our lives at a deeper level than He otherwise might, weaving all the events in our lives into a coherent love story at which we will marvel when we reach eternity. Like a potter, He shapes everything in our lives with the greatest personal care. He simply does not have that “freedom” in the lives of those who insist on control, because He checks His own action in our lives to some extent at the door of our freedom–freedom to trust and cede control, freedom to push Him out and retain control.
When we place our lives fully in His hands, He orders everything in them to our eternal welfare and to our happiness, even those things that appear tragic or random. Truly holy souls find His fingerprints all over the circumstances that befall them in life. It’s not just that they are more perceptive, although that certainly is a factor. It is because God in fact has taken the reins that these souls have handed over to Him, and He is working marvels for them and in them. As St. Paul tells us, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God.” (Rom. 8:28)
So it is for Job in today’s first reading. Because Job trusted, God was able to make of his life in the long term far happier than it would have been without that trust.
And in today’s Gospel passage, we see the seventy-two disciples returning in high spirits because they sensed God’s power working through them. At this Jesus cautioned them: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” As much as we rejoice with gratitude when we perceive the effects of God’s loving Providence in this life, we must remember that this Providence is ordering everything to our eternal destiny–so there are some things that He does in our lives whose benefit for us may remain hidden until eternity. Our simple task: To trust; with today’s psalm, full of trust, to say, “Lord, let your face shine upon me.”
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Consider the events in your life that strike you as most mysterious, perhaps most painful and discouraging. Tell Jesus that, like Job in his deepest affliction, you place all your trust in His love and that you will not doubt it, even though you have trouble perceiving how the circumstances that befall you reflect His love.
Follow the Author on Twitter:Follow @mvhaywilliams