Memorial
of Saint Francis of Assisi
Reflections on Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17/ Psalm 119:66, 71, 75, 91, 125, 130 / Luke 10:17-24
by Frank D.B. Savadera, SJ
Today
the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, we find in our readings images of people
rejoicing and celebrating. Done were the drama days of Job; he who earlier
noted – God gives and God takes away.
Blessed is the name of the Lord. After all his life travails, today
Yahweh gives him back everything.
According to our account: “the LORD blessed the latter days of Job MORE (even
more) than his earlier ones.”
Similarly
in the Gospel of Luke, the disciples were partying: “The seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing
and said to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your
name.” Indeed, there is rejoicing in
knowing that all our demons have no power over us. Satan can fall like lightning from the sky. Wouldn’t you party and celebrate knowing that
the Lord had given you power ‘to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon the
full force of your enemies and nothing will harm you.
The
first message that I’m picking up from our readings today is that of JOY and
celebration. God gives us back MORE than
what we’ve had initially received… and He assures us that our demons will never
never have power over us … we can walk upon serpents and scorpions and never be
harmed. Would we like that? Would we like to claim that for ourselves?
But
as you may know, this feeling of joy and celebration did not come easy for Job.
Everything was taken away from
him. Remember how God and the devil
conversed and ventured to test his faith.
Thus, after being given so much in life, his properties were seized, his
loved ones perished and Job found himself living the life of a destitute. Likewise, the very fact that the 72
disciples talked about devils … can mean for us that they battled … even
perhaps fearlessly against a battalion of devils.
Thus,
for our second point, I wish to stress that JOY is a consequence, a by-product
of faith and forbearance. As the cliché’
goes … there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Or if we refer to Saint
Francis: “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single
candle.” Or “A single sunbeam is enough
to drive away many shadows.”
We
refer to Job’s prayer and note how faith and forbearance can come only from a
knowledge that God can do all things and that no purpose of His can ever be
hindered. Faith and forbearance come
with a realization … that Lord … I have dealt with great things that I do not
understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.
Thus
amidst all the drama of life that we go through, we pray as the Psalmist prays
…as we beg: LORD, LET YOUR FACE SHINE ON
ME. I want to see you face and your
light amidst all of these things happening around me. Teach me wisdom and
knowledge. Help me accept and bear with
things that afflict me and realize that I have a lot to learn about the world,
about myself, about you … my life and vocation.
Give me faith. Give me forbearance. Friends, the prayer: LORD LET YOUR FACE SHINE ON ME is a prayer of
faith and forbearance amidst our experiences of troubles.
Finally,
true joy and celebration come from a genuine experience of seeing and being
convinced that it is indeed the Lord that talks and guides me all the days of
my life. Job affords to be joyful not
only because he had simply heard about Yahweh. “I
had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you,” says he.
Let
us allow ourselves to see as Job saw the Lord.
Find assurances in the very words of Jesus when he said: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings
desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but
did not hear it.”
Friends,
I suppose … this is the way of the saints … and the same is true for Saint
Francis. We continue to battle against
all our demons. We are asked to
beg: Lord, let your face shine upon me
and from our experiences derive greater faith and forbearance. Doing so … we pray that we will see and
genuinely experience real joy.
