Blog for the week of October 4, 2009

Read the opening chapters of Job. Go emotionally, if you dare, to the place of his suffering. If you lost your wealth and children, and your friends were of little comfort to you, would you go mad? Would you be overwhelmed by despair? Job responds by recalling the goodness of God in the past: Job's own past and the distant past, the past of his ancestors. He "goes" to the place of tradition, that which was handed down to him or that which he handed down to himself (that which he could recall from his past). The Latin root for the word tradition means that which is handed down.

In your suffering, are the stories of God's goodness (say in the Bible), your memories of God's goodness, and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper that communicates God's goodness, enough? Why or why not? These are what have been handed down to us, our tradition. How do you feel now? How has God blessed you in the past? What do you believe about tomorrow?