Depressed

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD!"

But why does it have to hurt so much?

As we heard in yesterday’s reading, Job knows intellectually that everything is a gift from the Lord and he strives to remain faithful to God, but that does not spare him from feeling the full grief of his situation: the death of all his children, the destruction of all his possessions, and the unceasing pain of his sores.

In today’s first reading, we have the full brunt of his anguish: a pain and heartache so deep and so intense that Job longs for death.

We know how the story ends: Job perseveres and is rewarded with much more than he ever had before. But it may be useful for us not to leap over this excruciatingly painful moment in our rush for the Happy Ending.

Why do we rush? Perhaps because we are afraid. Perhaps because it reminds us too much of dark moments we have had in our own lives or (God forbid) may even be experiencing now: feelings of wrenching pain, choking depression, and yearning for death.

Don’t be afraid. Look. You are not alone. You are not the only one to feel these feelings. Job felt them. So too did Lorenzo Ruiz and so many of the saints and martyrs. Even our Lord himself cried out,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Yet our Lord knew he was not forsaken and so did Lorenzo and all the saints. They sought and received grace from the Lord, directly and through the help of others, and, through their pain, persevered in doing what was right – no matter the pain, no matter how long or short the time.

If things go bad for us, if we feel depression and despair, we should remember that we are not alone.

Job has been there. Others have been there. God is there.

We must reach out to God. We must reach out to the Church. We must seek strength from God and continue to strive to live as God wants us to live.

God will give us his strength and his grace, often in unexpected ways, and the rewards will be greater than we can imagine.