JOB’S
COMPLAINT
“When I looked
for good, evil came;
and when I
waited for light, darkness came.
My heart is in
turmoil,
and is never still;
days of affliction came to meet me.” (Job
30:-26-27)
“…he was
righteous in his own eyes.” (Job 32:1)
GOD’S REPLY
“’Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
…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.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
… On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?’” (Job 38:2-7; cf Job 38 – 41)
THE BEGINNING AND THE END
“Ego sum
alpha et ómega,
initium et finis;
ego sitienti dabo de fontes aquae vitae, gratis.
Qui vicerit possidebit haec;
et ero illi Deus,
et ille erit mihi filius.”
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end.
To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the water of life
freely.
He who overcomes shall possess these things,
and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son.” (Rev
21:6-7)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
...God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created
him.” (Gen 1:1,27)
GOD’S GREATNESS
“In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains
are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it;
for his hands formed the dry
land.
O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the LORD,
our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his
pasture,
the sheep of his hand.” (Ps
95:4-7)
“Ask of me,
and I will make the nations
your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.” (Ps 2:8)
MORE THAN A MOTHER
“But Sion said,
‘The Lord has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me.
Can a woman forget her sucking child,
that she should have no
compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands.” (Is 49:14-16)
“It is significant that in the passages from the prophet Isaiah
the fatherhood of God
is filled with images inspired
by motherhood.” (John Paul II)
“He who touches you touches the apple of my eye.” (Zach 2:8)
TRUST IN PROVIDENCE
“’Therefore I tell you,
do not be anxious about your
life,
what you shall eat,
nor about your body,
what you shall put on.
...
Consider the ravens:
they neither sow nor reap,
they have neither storehouse
nor barn,
and yet God feeds them.
Of how much more value are you than the birds!
“But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today
and tomorrow is thrown into the
oven,
how much more will he clothe
you,
O men of little faith!
...your Father knows that you need them.”
(Lk 12:11,24,28,30 cf 12:22-34; cf also Mt 6:25-34)
“Do not be anxious about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will have troubles
of its own.
Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.” (Mt 6:34)
“We always have sufficient help to be faithful today,
to live this particular day with peace and joy.
Tomorrow will bring new graces,
and its burden will be no
heavier than today’s has been.
Each day has its toil, its cross and its own joy.”
(F Fernández Carvajal, In Conversation with God, 3:61.2)
THE WEAVER
My life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors,
He worketh steadily.
Oft-times He weaveth sorrow,
And I, in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper,
And I the under side.
Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvass
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful,
In the Weaver’s skilful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern he has planned.
He knows, He loves, He cares--
Nothing this truth can dim;
He gives the very best to those,
Who leave the choice with Him.
(Author Anonymous)
TODAY AND NOW
“Let us have a firm and general determination to serve God
wholeheartedly,
all our life long.
Let us not ask to know any more than that there is a tomorrow
about which we need not be
unduly concerned.
Let our concern be, rather, for the good we can do today.
‘Tomorrow’ will soon become ‘today’,
and then we will give it our
attention.
We need to gather our provision of manna for today [cf Ex
16:1-7;16,19-20]
and no more.
We should never doubt
that God will send another
shower of manna on the following day,
and the next one,
and the next one,
as long as the days of our
pilgrimage last.”
(St Francis de Sales, Letters, fragments 131,766)
ST AUGUSTINE’S PRAYER
“Teach me, O Lord, how to love you;
wretched as I am, I will love
you with my whole heart and soul,
because you loved me first.
I exist
because you created me;
you willed from all eternity to number me among your creatures.
Whence does this blessing come to me,
O most benign Lord,
Most High God,
Most merciful Father;
for what merits of mine,
what grace of mine,
did it please Your Majesty to
create me?
I did not exist and you created me;
I was nothing and from nothing you drew me and gave me being.
Not the existence of a drop of water, of fire, a bird, a fish
or any other irrational
animal....
but you created me a little
lower than the angels,
since, like them, I have been
given reason by which I may know you,
and knowing you, can love you.
And I, O Lord, by your grace, can become your son,
which is impossible to other
creatures.
Only your grace, your goodness has done this,
so that I may share in your
sweetness.
Give me then, the grace to be grateful,
O you who have created me out
of nothing!” (St Augustine)
“Quodquod tibi áccidit
tamquam bonum accípies
conscious sine Deo nihil
fíeri.”
(Ex Epistola Barnaba nuncupata, Hebd VIII, Feria
IV)
“’Tibi gratias benedixit.’
At every Mass
we remember and relive
the first sentiment expressed
by Jesus as he broke the bread:
that of thanksgiving.
Gratitude is the disposition which lies at the root
Of the very word ‘Eucharist’.
This expression of thanksgiving
contains the whole Biblical
spirituality of praise
for the ‘mirabilia Dei’.
God loves us,
he goes before us in his
Providence,
he accompanies us with his
continuous saving acts.
In the Eucharist, Jesus thanks the Father with us and for us.
How could this thanksgiving of Jesus
fail to shape the life of a
priest?
He knows that he must cultivate
a constant sense of gratitude
for the many gifts he has
received in the course of his life:
in particular, for the gift of faith,
which it is his task to
proclaim,
and for the gift of the priesthood,
which consecrates him totally
to the service of the Kingdom of God.
We have our crosses to bear—and we are certainly not the only ones!—
but the gifts we have received
are so great
that we cannot fail to sing
from the depths of our hearts
our own ‘Magnificat’.”
(John Paul II, Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 2005, written from
the Gemelli Hospital, 13 March, 5th Sunday of Lent)
C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\jmom RETREAT\crt_02Creation.rtf
Revised 25 March 2005.