Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! I'm reading the Bible clear through this year, and I invite you to read along with me. But first, let us pray:
God of my fathers, Lord of mercy,
who have made all things by your word
and in your wisdom have created people
to rule this world that you have made,
and to render judgment in integrity of heart:
Give me Wisdom, the attendant at your throne,
and reject me not from among your children;
for I am your servant, the child of your handmaid,
a weak human being,
and lacking in comprehension of your Word and your will.
Send your Wisdom from the holy heavens,
from your glorious throne,
to be with me, to guide me,
to enlighten me, to lead me to you.
(Based on Wis 9)
Today's chapters are Job 19-21.
There is an amazing confession of faith in today's reading. Just as very few passages in the Bible can match the Book of Job in their exploration of human pain, few books of the Bible offer as triumphant an expression of hope (maybe Romans 8:31, but Paul had the benefit of Christ's Resurrection to work with). The key words have been set into unforgettable hymns (I even helped record a contemporary version), though to my mind the soaring beauty of Handel's arrangement in the Messiah can't be surpassed. Perhaps you have heard these words at a Funeral Mass: it is one of the options for the first reading, so consistent is it with our Christian hope and so consoling is its assurance.
They are in Job's response to the (annoying) Bildad:
Oh, would that my words were written down! Would that they were inscribed in a record: that with an iron chisel and with lead they were cut in the rock forever!
But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another's, shall behold him; and from my flesh I shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing.
Listen to the Daughters of St Paul sing "I Know that My Redeemer Lives":
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