A Penitent Blogger
Who do you think you are?
We human beings think we are pretty smart.
We think that we can take care of ourselves and that we can control our own destiny.
Sometimes indeed we can.
Sometimes, however, the world reminds us that we cannot.
There are many things we human beings cannot fully understand and many things we cannot control.
We may often be amazed at (or smug about) the marvels wrought by our human intellect and technology.
But sooner or later it will be all wiped away.
Perhaps it will be an asteroid, perhaps an unstoppable pandemic, or perhaps a catastrophe totally unforeseen.
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
"Who is this that darkens counsel
by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Where were you
when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding."
These words from God's mighty speech at the end of the book of Job (38:1-4), from which today's first reading comes (verses 1, 8-11), are a classic reminder that we are but small and fragile beings in the vastness of the universe: a universe that ultimately and completely lies in the hand of God.
This truth is reinforced in today's Gospel (Mark 4:35-41) as the disciples give in to despair in the face of forces far beyond their control.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
There are many things in this world we can understand and control.
And there are mysteries and forces in the universe that can always elude us and crush us.
But God is always there, greater than the Universe, knowing all things and encompassing all things in infinite mystery.
We cannot always figure everything out. There are things that happen that we cannot understand and dangers that we cannot always prevent.
But above and beyond all things, comprehensible and incomprehensible, God is there: God knows and understands, but more importantly, God cares and loves.
Our Lord speaks, "Quiet. Be still.
"I hold you in the palm of my hand.
"Have faith."
We think that we can take care of ourselves and that we can control our own destiny.
Sometimes indeed we can.
Sometimes, however, the world reminds us that we cannot.
There are many things we human beings cannot fully understand and many things we cannot control.
We may often be amazed at (or smug about) the marvels wrought by our human intellect and technology.
But sooner or later it will be all wiped away.
Perhaps it will be an asteroid, perhaps an unstoppable pandemic, or perhaps a catastrophe totally unforeseen.
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
"Who is this that darkens counsel
by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Where were you
when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding."
These words from God's mighty speech at the end of the book of Job (38:1-4), from which today's first reading comes (verses 1, 8-11), are a classic reminder that we are but small and fragile beings in the vastness of the universe: a universe that ultimately and completely lies in the hand of God.
This truth is reinforced in today's Gospel (Mark 4:35-41) as the disciples give in to despair in the face of forces far beyond their control.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
There are many things in this world we can understand and control.
And there are mysteries and forces in the universe that can always elude us and crush us.
But God is always there, greater than the Universe, knowing all things and encompassing all things in infinite mystery.
We cannot always figure everything out. There are things that happen that we cannot understand and dangers that we cannot always prevent.
But above and beyond all things, comprehensible and incomprehensible, God is there: God knows and understands, but more importantly, God cares and loves.
Our Lord speaks, "Quiet. Be still.
"I hold you in the palm of my hand.
"Have faith."
posted by Penitens | 8:57 PM
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