Suffering is a stepping stone to the crown (HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 26TH WEEK IN THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR II ( ST VINCENT DE PAUL

Homily for Tuesday of the 26th week in the ordinary time, year II (memorial of St. Vincent De Paul)

Job 3:1-3,11-17,20-23; Lk 9:51-56

Theme: Suffering is a stepping stone to the crown

The first reading in today's liturgy of the word brings to us a further description of the response of Job to the pain, misery, and anguish he found himself.

Spoken about here is a man whose family and servants were wiped out by sudden tragedies, whose wealth vanished in a twinkling of an eye and was reduced to nothing. A man whose body ended up becoming the seat of a fierce and foul disease, who found himself in a pool of suffering and sorrow. The question is, what kind of response do we expect from a man wallowing in such a diminished state of life? 

Job in his misfortune did not curse God but rather cursed the day of his birth. He said, "May the day perish when I was born and the night that told the story of a boy conceived. Why did I not die new-born or perish or perish as I left the womb?" (Job 3:1).

Beloved in Christ, Job is a representation of many who suffer much here on earth. Those riddled by affliction and distress beyond their strength and comprehension. The sufferings of the incurably sick persons, the chronically diseased, hunger, fatigue, mental sufferings, childlessness in marriage etc

The response in these sorrowful situations should not terminate our communion with God nor thwart our faith in God. However, from the narrative of Job, moral strength can be drawn to augment the fidelity to God.

Beloved in Christ, we must make a constant effort to alleviate these sufferings of our brothers and sisters, as far as we can. We must put ourselves at the service of our suffering brethren. We should pray for them at all times. 

In the same vein, the Gospel reading brings before us the person of Christ Jesus who did not shy away from suffering. The Gospel says, "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Lk 9:51).

Though Jesus knew what awaited him at Jerusalem yet he was not deterred by the agony of going to Jerusalem. "The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised" (Lk 9:22). Jesus says, "I have a baptism with which to be baptized; and what stress I am under until it is completed" (Lk 12:50).

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, many times we tend to withdraw our gaze from the cup of suffering, from the cross, from the tasks which entail suffering. Many times we run away from difficulties and crosses and be frequently tuned to pleasure. However, for Jesus, the cross is a stepping stone to the crown. This must be our approach to suffering, a stepping stone to the crown.

The Gospel tells us: "On their way, they entered a village of the Samaritans, but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem" (Lk 9:52-53). The Jews and the Samaritans quite alright do not share things in common however, we can see the implication of not welcoming Jesus into their village. The sick in the Samaritan village that refused to receive Jesus ended up not getting healed by Jesus, and Miracle was equally not performed there. 

Friends in Christ,  Jesus cannot be dismissed in human life, and the word of God cannot be barred from our hearts and minds because without Jesus the human person is doomed in the hands of evil. Only but Jesus can bring healing to our souls and bodies, and in Jesus is our salvation guaranteed. 

We must equally take into consideration the rebuke of Jesus to James and John who wanted to command fire to come down from heaven and consume the Samaritans because they rejected Jesus (Lk 9:54-55). The Son of man came to seek and save the lost (Lk 19:10) and not to condemn them. Jesus does not force anyone to welcome or receive him. But if anyone does not welcome him then the treasures of the kingdom of God and the gift of salvation are hidden from him. Hence, let us always welcome Jesus into our hearts and lives so that he may heal us spiritually and physically as children of God. 

May God bless his words in our hearts both now and forever more. Amen.

Have a wonderful day!

Fr Remi osj