Commentary on the Gospel of
Arriving at Faith
We can never understand a mystery on this side of life at least; we can only stand under the mystery and live with it, with an attitude of awe and dynamic surrender. This is essentially the lesson the book of Job offers us on the vexing problem of human suffering. One of the classics in world literature and acclaimed by Alfred Lord Tennyson as “the greatest poem of ancient and modern times,” the book of Job takes us through the deepening of faith of Job. In today’s reading we find him with a certain equanimity and ready-made catechetical answer at the face of tragedies, an answer which is indicative more of rationalization than faith. (Don’t we too live with such platitudes in life?) As we will see in the coming days, Job’s defenses must and will crumble down and leave him utterly naked in soul before God, and he will, at the end, arrive at the core of faith: wonder, awe, marvel, and surrender to the Mystery.
