I shall not see happiness again with all that’s going on in this life

Pastor’s Pen
St. Augustine Catholic Church
Sunday, February 7, 2021
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Church Family,

We have in the scriptures today Job, St. Paul, and Jesus, himself, all working so hard and as a result they’re worn out. Job really says it so discouragingly when he says, “I shall not see happiness again with all that’s going on in this life.”  He is really broken hearted and sometimes we have these types of feelings when we work really hard and there is so much more on “your plate.” But the Lord, as the psalmist says, heals the broken hearted.

So, we’re going to make it and Paul’s going to make it.  He says, “I know in preaching the gospel, I don’t want to boast because an obligation has been imposed on me and woe to me if I do not preach it. So, he is going to give the good word out even though he feels in this time to be worn out.  Finally, he says at the end, and this is a little bit of what we should be, “I have become all things to all.”  And you and I go around spreading the good news and wishing that everybody in our family were at peace and in love with the Lord.

But sometimes we just have to keep going on even though we don’t feel like there’s much results.  There are results for Jesus and I can just imagine how tired he’d get.  He started by just doing a little good deed in the home of Peter when Peter’s mother-in-law is sick and he cures her.  Then we have a summary in the first chapter of Mark telling us how successful and how all the healing that’s going on and finally it says, “everyone is looking for you.”  But then Jesus says, and we say, “Well let us go on to the nearby villages so that I may preach there also.  For this purpose, have I come.”  So, we went.

We have the challenge of spreading the good news and all is well even though it wears us out.  So, we could have burnt out in our reflecting on the scriptures today or we can do all this and get enough rest and go at it again and get rid of those bad negative feelings that Job had and even the negative feelings that St. Paul has as he says, “For the sake of Jesus, I want to win over as many as possible to the good news.”

So, church, work hard and you may be a little broken hearted.  Overcome that broken heartedness with lots of compulsion to love, love, love and then all is well. You can do much more than you think you ever could I’m sure Jesus was so surprised that so many people came and He took care of the whole situation. The author, Mark, likes to give this attitude of being able to continue on spreading the good news because Jesus says that’s why I’m here.

Amen, God bless and enjoy this sacred word today.  It is Black History Month and we look at the heroes that can help us even in our broken heartedness and struggles that we have.

Amen, Hallelujah, God bless you.
Father Bob