If we receive good from the hand of God, why should we not also receive evil?

I spent the weekend in the hospital - first the ER then admitted to the 8/F West of the Hamilton General Hospital, which is the Clinical Teaching Unit for Internal Medicine patients. I was admitted because my cardiac enzymes doubled since admission. I was wearing a remote cardiac monitor to make sure I didn't go into arrhythmia. I just had a bicycle accident during which I fractured and dislocated 4 ribs, separated my left shoulder, and had a concussion which erased all my memories of the event and hours after. I received excellent care, with my dear wife by my side. My oldest daughter and her husband and my first grand son also came by to visit. I was sore but I felt that God was very good to me. I discharged myself after a repeated CT of my head showed that the small frontal lobe haemorrhage did not progress and my cardiac enzymes had returned to normal.  I then went to the late Sunday evening mass.

I am now sitting by the window enjoying the beautiful view and breakfast. And this morning I read the scripture found in Job 2:
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. (Job 2:7-8)

The text went on to quote Job's wife in saying: "Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!" to which Job answered: "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?".  Then the bible recorded possibly the longest dialog and debate between Job and his three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Elihu, which lasted from Jobs 3 to Jobs 37 before the Lord finally spoke in Jobs 38-39:
"Who is this that obscures my plans
    with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me." (Jobs 38:2-3)
"Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
    Let him who accuses God answer him!" (Jobs 40:2)

To which Job replied:
“I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
    I put my hand over my mouth.
I spoke once, but I have no answer—
    twice, but I will say no more.” (Jobs 40:4-5)

Then the Office of Readings quoted The Moral Reflections on Job by Pope St Gregory the Great:

"We should especially notice the skilful turn of reflection he uses when he gathers himself up to meet the persuading of his wife, when he says If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not receive evil? It is a great consolation to us if, when we suffer afflictions, we recall to remembrance our Maker’s gifts to us. Painful things will not depress us if we quickly remember also the gifts that we have been given. As Scripture says, In the day of prosperity do not forget affliction, and in the day of affliction, do not forget prosperity." He went on to say: "The two must be united so that each may always have the other’s support, so that both remembrance of the gift may moderate the pain of the blow and fear of the blow may moderate exuberance at receiving the gift. Thus the holy man, to soothe the depression of his mind amidst his wounds, weighs the sweetness of the gifts against the pains of affliction, saying If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not receive evil?"

I am always impressed with Job's attitude in life:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Jobs 1:21)

I am pondering whether I should attend a conference this weekend in Halifax, in which I am giving a workshop - "It is More Blessed to Give than to Receive". This event on the weekend has served to reinforce this attitude to life. May God protect me and give me the strength I need to share God's goodness with those who would attend the workshop!

Here is your mother

Yesterday we celebrated the feastday of Pentecost. The Catholic Church believes that this event represents the birth of the Christian Church. In today's scripture reading (Acts 1:12-14) it describes the period of 10 days after Jesus' ascension to heaven and before the coming of the Holy Spirit. In verse 14 it describes the wait: "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.". I have not noticed it before that Mary, the mother of Jesus was there in the upper room along  with the apostles and the other disciples (women and men). The church has always held a very high regards for the central role Mary plays in the birth and nurturing of the early church.

In fact, the other scripture read today is the scene of Jesus on the cross (John 19:25-34) where Jesus not only asked His mother Mary to look after the disciple He loved (assumed to be the apostle John), representing the church (which He loved and for whom He died), but He also told the church to look after their mother - our Mother: "When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.”  And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home."

Today, May 21, 2018, marks the first celebration of the Feast of Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, instituted early this year by Pope Francis. The announcement came in a decree issued March 3, 2018, by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments... “The joyous veneration given to the Mother of God by the contemporary Church, in light of reflection on the mystery of Christ and on his nature, cannot ignore the figure of a woman (cf. Gal 4:4), the Virgin Mary, who is both the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church.,” according to the decree. “This celebration will help us to remember that growth in the Christian life must be anchored to the Mystery of the Cross, to the oblation of Christ in the Eucharistic Banquet and to the Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Redeemed, the Virgin who makes her offering to God.”

I did not know my Blessed Mother that well for many many years living as a Christian. But now, I am becoming more and more acquainted with this amazing woman, who said YES to Jesus:
"Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." (Luke 1:38)

Because she said YES she became the mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Saying the Rosary everyday reminds me of the central role Mary plays to bring my petition to God, through Jesus, who loves His Mother and wants us to do the same.

Jesus' Presence

I had always been confused about this. When Jesus gave the great commission:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) 

He made a promise of His Divine Presence -  but how are we to experience this?

Before I reverted back to my Catholic faith, I had always understood that Jesus meant that His Spirit would be with me. And then I was told that both the Holy Spirit and His spirit (but without His body) were with me. This was fine when I didn't appreciate that Jesus, and we humans, are both body and soul (and not body, spirit, and soul, as some Protestants also believe), and it's very important to understand that correctly. With the wrong understanding, I made the  error of believing that my body was not that important once I am done with this life. So I had decided for cremation when I die. In fact I told my wife to scatter my ashes along Book Road in Ancaster (which is actually illegal to scatter human remains on public ground!), where I have always had a love for its beauty and peacefulness, every time I ride my bike on it (and I used to do my 20km training run on it during my Marathon days). So now instead of this my wife and I have recently decided to actually purchase a burial ground in this Catholic cemetery for a proper burial, in accordance to church teaching). The reason for treating my body with such dignity is that God created it lovingly and uniquely, along with my soul, and they are created in His image. And you know what, what God had created, it was very good (Genesis 1:31). 

So at the end of time my body will be resurrected along with everyone else. My body will be reunited with my soul then, and face the final judgment (the first judgment, called the particular judgment, will take place immediately after my death - according to the Catholic teaching).

So I used to believe in getting a "glorified body" quite different from the one I have now. And now I believe I will get back my own body which God created in the beginning - minus all the imperfections as a consequence of sins, of course. It won't be a totally new body which I'd like to imagine to be: Einstein + Brad Pitt + Lance Armstrong!

But of course it will always be a mystery, "I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. " (1 Corinthians 15:50-53)

All this leads back to the homily I heard yesterday (it was the Feast of the Ascension). The scripture text was from Acts 1:1-11). "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." What are we to do without Jesus? His bodily presence is important to us! Well He sent His Holy Spirit (we will be celebrating the Pentecost next week!). But through baptism we can have access to his Divine Presence - body, blood, soul, and divinity (ccc 1374) through the Holy Eucharist of the Mass - every day if I want to. It is wonderful that Jesus instituted these amazing sacraments to help me experience His Presence, and to draw power and grace from them to go out to make disciples so that they too can be baptized and experience His bodily Presence, until the last day, when we shall spend eternity with Him - with my body and soul, of course!