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| Job after his 'bad day' |
(Fifth Sunday of the Year (B):
This homily was given on February 5, 2012, at St. Pius X Church, Westerly
You could call it, “The Job
Syndrome”—after the man who spoke the words we just heard in today’s first
reading.
The Job Syndrome is a very common
ailment of the soul, although most people who have it probably don’t realize
that they have it.
It typically afflicts you when you’re
going through difficult times: for example, when a close friend or relative
dies; when you lose your job; when you find out that you or someone you love
has a serious illness; when a friend or acquaintance betrays you.
It’s named for the Old Testament
figure Job, because he definitely had a very serious case of it, as is clear
from this text we heard a few moments ago.
Job, as most of us know, was a
man who initially “had it all” when it came to the blessings of this earthly
life. The Bible indicates that had good
health, a large, loving family consisting of 7 sons and 3 daughters, lots of
sheep and camels and oxen—and he had a great relationship with God to
boot! He was a good, pious, devout,
righteous man.
And then he had a bad day—a REALLY
BAD DAY—and he lost everything: all his animals were either stolen or killed;
all his children died when the house they were in collapsed during a terrible windstorm,
and he himself was afflicted with a horrible skin disease in which painful
boils appeared all over his body.
For Job, it was a time of intense
physical, emotional and spiritual pain.
And he struggled to makes sense
of it (as I’m sure we all would in similar circumstances).
It’s in the midst of that
internal struggle that he says those words we heard in our first reading. Listen to some of them once again:
“Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?
Are not his days those of hirelings?
He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his
wages.”
Here we see the first
characteristic of people with the Job Syndrome: the tendency to look to the past and see only the bad, the negative,
the evil.
Think about it, my brothers and
sisters, Job’s life before his “bad day” was not a drudgery! It was anything but a drudgery! It was awesome! It was almost perfect. He didn’t live like a hireling or a slave
back then; he lived like a king! He
experienced a superabundance of graces and favors and blessings from God. And yet, in the midst of the pain he was in
when he spoke these words, all poor Job could remember from the past was the
bad, the negative, the evil.
Skip down now a few lines to the
words Job says at the very end of the text.
He says, “Remember that my life is
like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.”
I don’t know about you, but after
reading that line, my question is this: How did Job know that?
How did Job know that he would
never, ever, ever experience happiness again in his life?
The answer is: He didn’t know that! He couldn’t possibly have known with absolute
certitude that he would be miserable and unhappy for the rest of his life.
(And, of course, he wasn’t—as we
find out at the end of the Book of Job.
You’ll have to read it at home to get the details!)
This, then, is the second
characteristic of people with the Job Syndrome: the tendency to project the suffering of the present onto the
unknown future.
Hopefully you now see why I said
at the beginning of my homily that the Job Syndrome is a very common ailment of
the soul.
When we suffer, it’s human
nature—that is to say fallen human
nature—for us to look to the past and get focused on the negative aspects of
our lives, and then to look ahead and imagine that the sufferings of the
present will always be with us (and perhaps even get a lot worse!).
So, in reality—since we all have
our crosses—the Job Syndrome is something we all have to battle against constantly! I’ve certainly had to fight against it in
dealing with Parkinson’s Disease. How
easy it would be for me to fall into a pattern of thought where I begin to look
to the past with regret (regret for things I would like to have done but wasn’t
able to do) and then look ahead to the future with fear (What will I be like in
10 years? In 5 years? In 1 year?
What will my speech be like? What
will my balance be like? What will my
tremor be like?).
We all have issues in our lives
that can cause us to think in this way—which is why our relationship with the
Lord needs to be our number 1 priority!
Only the grace of God can help us
to overcome the Job Syndrome.
I think it’s providential that
this gospel text from Mark 1 was also read at today’s Mass. There Mark tells us that Jesus, after a night
of ministering to people, rose early the next morning—before dawn—and went to a
deserted place by himself to pray.
Imagine, the Son of God, the
Savior of the world, the Eternal word made flesh— felt the need to pray!
How much more do we need to?
If we commune with God on a
regular basis, he will help us, over time, to do 4 things with respect to our
past: number 1, he will help us to be grateful for our past blessings; number
2, he will lead us to repent of our past sins (and he will prompt us to go to
Confession to get them taken away); number 3, he will help us to draw positive
lessons, even from our negative past experiences; and, number 4, he will help
us to “let go” of the rest.
And, with respect to our future,
he will help us to trust and to hope: to trust that he will always be with us, that
his grace will always be sufficient for us, and that he is always in control
(even when things seem out of control!).
And he will help us to keep our eyes, in hope, on the eternal prize that
will be ours if we are faithful.
And in the process of all that,
he will help us keep the Job Syndrome out of our lives.
So we need to pray—every day.
Let me end this morning on a
lighter note (although still on point): As I was preparing this homily for
Super Bowl Sunday, I thought of many of the Patriot and Giant fans that I had conversations
with during the NFL regular season.
You came to mind, specifically because many of you, I believe, had a
form of the “Job Syndrome” with respect to your favorite football teams! (You see, this ailment is so prevalent that
it can even manifest itself in our recreational lives.)
For example, about mid-season I had
a number of Patriot fans say to me, “Sure Fr. Ray, the Pats have a great
offence, but their defense has been terrible.
Did you see how many yards they gave up in the past 2 or 3 games?” (Notice,
there, the first characteristic of the Job Syndrome: focusing on the negative in the past.) Then they’d go on, “And I’m
not so sure how well they’ll do in the playoffs this year. You know, defense usually wins championships
and the Patriots defense leaves a lot be desired.” (There you have characteristic
number 2: projecting the suffering of the
present onto the unknown future.)
And some of you Giant fans were
even worse in your assessment of your team and your team’s chances to get to
the big game this Sunday.
Well, I’m sure you’re all happy
today that you were wrong.
And the good news is that one
group of you will still be happy later tonight!
May the best team win.