Painting of Job. Gaspar de Crayer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Trusting in God’s Providence

God offers us the grace and peace to endure

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Susan Kehoe“Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith” (Mk 4:40). That verse from the Gospel came to mind as I waited and prayed in the hospital emergency room, in fear, to find out if my husband was having a cerebral hemorrhage. Jesus seemed to be admonishing me, just as he reproached the apostles when they woke him up to rescue them from the violent sea. Until that moment, I did not feel Christ’s presence.

That feeling of abandonment is common among even the faithful. Deacons often hear this from parishioners who are struggling, anxious, suffering and experiencing difficulties. Like Job, they wonder, “Why me Lord?” My husband often struggles with how to answer in a pastoral way.

That long night in the emergency room, God seemed to be saying to me, “Wrong question.” It occurred to me that the right question was, “Lord, what do you want me to learn from this situation?”

Too often we think that we have to awaken Christ so he will hear our prayers. Instead, we need to awaken our hearts to Christ, who lives within us. We need to let perfect love cast out fear (see 1 Jn 4:18). Then we will find peace and the grace to endure suffering

Advent, as we await the coming of the God who breaks through his own creation to save us, is a good time to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church. We live in a time of division and the erosion of once-respected institutions, including the Church. It is a time of anger and confusion. We don’t even understand what it means to be a man or a woman. It is a stormy time of chaos, even in the Church.

The Church is often referred to as the Barque of St. Peter. She is the boat that is tossed and battered as it resists the ways of the world. But it is Christ who is the head. The Church is our ark — our shelter in the storm. It is not easy to hold on to this concept when the world seems to be spiraling out of control. We are tempted to ask: “Where are you Lord? Why are you letting such suffering and evil happen?”

This is an age-old question. It is the question the suffering but righteous Job asks of God. Job is questioning God’s justice. He is essentially asking, “Why me?” He has been faithful to God, so why did God allow evil to happen to Job? This is justice?

God’s answer is to remind Job that Job is a human creature. God, and not Job, is the creator. Understanding God’s ways is not for human beings to know; we lack the capacity. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, / nor are your ways my ways” (Is 55:8).

Unlike people who lose their faith when they believe that their suffering is caused by an unjust God, Job understood that it was foolish for him to question God’s judgment.

All we can do is trust in God’s providence and have faith that God is always with us. Christ lives in our hearts. Yes, having that faith is often difficult. It is only possible through prayer, participation in the Mass and reception of the sacraments. God will always give us the grace and peace to endure if we only ask.

It turns out that my husband did not have another stroke. Praise be to God. But I for one am asking God, What do you want us to learn from this scare? Perhaps if there is a next time I will have the faith to accept the peace that Christ offers to everyone.

SUSAN KEHOE is co-director of RCIA at Christ the King Parish in Des Moines, Iowa, along with her husband, Deacon Larry Kehoe. She writes at adeaconswife.com.

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