Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 457

Job answered his friends and said:

I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified before God? Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed?

Psalm 130 echoes Job's assessment of human righteousness before God's:

If you, LORD, keep account of sins,
who can stand? 

Job goes on to consider the LORD's sovereign majesty over all creation:

He removes the mountains before they know it;
he overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth out of its place,
and the pillars beneath it tremble.
He commands the sun, and it rises not;
he seals up the stars.

In Job's thinking, the LORD's authority to create the universe with its billions and billions of galaxies and stars by a single pronouncement -- "Let there be....!" -- more than justifies his authority to reward and punish humankind.   

Christians can never disagree with Job's wisdom but the Gospels give us something even greater than Job's testimony; and that is the Salvation given us through Christ's passion, death, and resurrection. 

Elephant shrew

He has destroyed the sin and death which held us in thrall. If we're fascinated by stars, galaxies, black holes, and supernovas somewhere out there -- which we read about, or hear of, from science reporters -- we're even more astonished by the freedom, willingness, courage, and generosity we discover within our hearts. We might be fascinated by total eclipses and gravity waves but discovering God's mighty works in our daily prayer gives us endless satisfaction and reassurance. 

We cultivate this sense of wonder. As astonishing as an elephant shrew might be, the darling animal is not amazed at himself. Wonder is another of God's gift. Take a deep breath and contemplate that.