|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prayers and Faith |
|
"Job was a pious and upright, richly endowed. He
suffers a sudden and complete reversal of
fortune..." |
|
|
|
|
| |
Sometime ago, I received an email (or to be more
precise, the email was sent to several Catholic
webmasters) from B, a really distraught man, who feels things happened
despite his
prayers and faith. Among other trials, he is an
Agent Orange victim, his grandmother died, he
prayed for no war in Iraq and no diabetes, and his
wife left him.
This reminds me a lot about the story of Job,
the protagonist in the Book of Job, which tells
of the problem of the suffering of the innocent,
and of retribution.
|
| |
"Job was a pious and upright, richly endowed.
He suffers a sudden and complete reversal of
fortune. He loses his property and his
children; a loathsome disease afflicts his
body. Only those who have gone through even a
fraction of these can understand the kind
sorrow that oppresses your soul. Nevertheless,
Job does not complain against God.
When some friends visit him to condole with
him, Job protests his innocence and does not
understand why he is afflicted. He curses the
day of his birth and longs for death to bring
an end to his sufferings.
Job's friends insist that his plight can only
be a punishment for personal wrongdoing and an
invitation from God to repentance. Job rejects
their inadequate explanation and calls for a
response from God himself. At this point the
speeches of a youth named Elihu (Job 32-37)
interrupt the development.
In response to Job's plea that he be allowed
to see God and hear from him the cause of his
suffering, God answers, not by justifying his
action before men, but by referring to his own
omniscience and almighty power. Job is content
with this. He recovers his attitude of
humility and trust in God, which is deepened
now and strengthened by his experience of
suffering."
|
|
Continued below... |
|
| |
|
| |
My Prayer Box
Newsletter |
|
|
My Prayer Box newsletter is published weekly and contains the
readings for that Sunday. It has reflections, stories and
reader contributions, prayers and news relevant to living a
proud Catholic life.
The reader contributions include announcements, interesting
articles, pictures and greetings. We also solicit news
regarding activities and events your parishes that you might
useful for others.
The newsletter has over 1000 subscribers.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
In his story, God answered Job. But as you can
see God answered not to explain what happened to
Job but to show His divine plan. And that was
enough for him.
Now honestly, if God’s divine plan was laid out
to us right now, how will we react to it?
Belief? No. Most likely disbelief. You see Job
had one thing going for him. He really lived a
pious life in faith. He knew what he believed
BEFORE he needed to believe.
But when do we pray? There are times when we
prayer "just in case" it works. We go to Church,
pray and even do good deeds as investments so
good things will come out of them. We see God in
our terms. We have a place and time for God: On
Sundays, when we are sick, on funerals, just
before an exam, or when we are on disbelief, or
worse, when we accidentally hit our thumb with a
hammer. Remember, "Oh, my God," or "God !@#$
it!"
That is not what faith is all about. We pray to
God, we go to Church and even do good deeds
because of the rewards in heaven. We pray in
spite of whatever result knowing that no trials
are given us without a bigger plan in His mind.
What would that be? I don’t know. None of us can
know. To paraphrase an old saying, "If we knew
God’s mind, then we would be God."
I am not saying that B did not have enough faith
in God. I can never know that. Faith is between
him and God. But a chain of events happened
because of B’s email. It caused a lot of people
to opine about their faith, to give advice but
most importantly, it gave B the chance to air
out his questions about his faith.
This subject has gone beyond one man’s lament
and became an important exchange of ideas on
faith and why we have faith or feel we do. It
also occurred to me that our inability to accept
things as they are will always be to some a
source of hopelessness. Of not having control.
It also occurred to me that to some faith is
like those luxury food items that sometimes we
indulge in. In times of financial need, it is
the first to go.
There are things that will always be beyond our
control. Yet there is one thing that is within
ours and we will be judge by it.
It is our duty to pray for all and we should.
But it is just sheer folly and extreme arrogance
in our part to believe that our prayers are
meant so that things will happen just to please
us and to make things the way we think they
should be.
Although it is never too late, we do not have
all the time in the world. Although we will fall
back with doubts again and again, as surely as
the sun will rise tomorrow prayers and faith
will give us another chance. After all, life is
a cycle of "do overs."
We choose our reaction to heart rending events.
We either grow from them or to be overwhelmed by
them: Our prayers are meant to please ONLY God;
Our faith a path to God. You choose. |
|
|
Apologetics |
 |
Mary
and the Saints |
|
Mass
and the Eucharist |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prayers |
|
Novenas |
|
The Rosary |
 |
Traditional Prayers:
Discover the origin of your favorite prayer. We might
even have the original Latin version, too. |
|
|
 |
Novenas:
Learn how
to say a novena in honor of your favorite
Saint. |
|
|
|
|
Archived Articles |
|
Prayer Requests |
|
Tours and Pilgrimages |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|