Daily word, 05 Oct 18

26^th Friday of the Year (05 Oct 2018) 
Jb 38. 1, 12-21; 40. 3-5; Ps 139; Lk 10. 13-16

Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J. during Full Spiritual Exercises

Breathing With God

The Book of Job exquisitely describes the problem of suffering among humans, esp. innocent people. Daily mass every other year exposes us to the book in a whirlwind tour: from ch1 to 3 to 9 to 19; to 38 and the beginning of ch 40 today and ch 42 tomorrow. The Book of Job does not answer why bad things happen to good people. The drama of Job reminds that God is with us when bad things happen as well as good things.

God’s close presence to humans is nothing new. God is mystery who ever eludes us. Joyce Rupp’s title for God is apt: “Elusive One.”¹ It describes the One beyond us who is also nearer to us than our breathing. Suffering makes it difficult to breathe—physically as well as spiritually. If praying is spiritual breathing then turning to the Book of Job in calamity may be a worshipping assembly’s best first step: to echo Job, What can we answer? 

As a Jesuit apostolate we decided to devote the first Friday of each month as a healing balm for all who have suffered abuse within and beyond the church. Focused prayer certainly frees me to stand closer with those who suffer lifetimes of emotional, physical and spiritual trauma. No one helped me feel that spiritual suffering than the one who said, “[my abuser] took away from me…Not just my innocence but my faith.”² What can we answer? 

Through Job’s emotional, physical and spiritual suffering Job alone could only find his way. His so-called friends did not help him. Professionals who counsel and guide suffering people today hold the stories of traumatized people and offer them ways to cope so they may reach healthier plateaus: the climbs are theirs; counsellors and therapists offer them direction to help them climb.

What about us? Our prayers for the abused and abusers serve us, too. Our prayers for them put us in touch with our needs for healing: both recovery from our wounds and reshaping us to grow more gentle, more respectful and live as more confident friends of Jesus. We may revisit our Blessed Histories to cherish how God’s grace has suffused our personal histories and remember: things we cannot change, God was present; things we can change, God is present to help us make changes; things in the future: God will be present when what has yet happen arrives.

Another reason to revisit our Blessed Histories is that we are not God—as Bernie told us Tuesday. Bernie was not parroting a truism. It is a fact: none of us is God. We often forget—though abused people lose memory against their wills—that all are precious to God. Nothing we say in answer to God is ever adequate. Our God truly takes our breath away—likely the only difficulty breathing that is not pained or painful. Sharing together God’s love transforms our lives. God is healing balm for us and our lives, too. Healing balm, God answers us; God answers us continually with God’s Word, Jesus. Retreat frees us to hear God answering us and welcome God’s healing. Retreat also frees us to speak God’s answer to others—even if they reject it.

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1. Her Out of the Ordinary: Prayers, Poems, and Reflections for Every Season. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2000, 2010.
2. “A clergy sex abuse survivor’s story and its lessons for restoring faith,” America Magazine, 31August2018.

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Wiki-image Jesus healing PD-US