This week's readings Week of Feb. 9 - Feb. 15 Sunday, Feb. 9, 2003 Reading I: Jb 7:1-4, 6-7 Reading II: 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23 Gospel: Mk 1:29-39 Monday, Feb. 10, 2003 Reading I: Gn 1:1-19 Gospel: Mk 6:53-56 Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003 Reading I: Gn 1:20--2:4a Gospel: Mk 7:1-13 Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2003 Reading I: Gn 2:4b-9, 15-17 Gospel: Mk 7:14-23 Thursday, Feb. 13, 2003 Reading I: Gn 2:18-25 Gospel: Mk 7:24-30 Friday, Feb. 14, 2003 Reading I: Gn 3:1-8 Gospel: Mk 7:31-37 Saturday, Feb. 15, 2003 Reading I: Gn 3:9-24 Gospel: Mk 8:1-10 Pope's Prayer Intentions February General Intention Bread and water for all the world: That all Christians, sensitive to the people who are still suffering from hunger and thirst, be moved to greater solidarity with their brothers. February Mission Intention The Church in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei: That these churches may dialog with other religions while keeping faithful to their exacting evangelizing missions.

During troubled times:
God does not forget

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

The story of Job, who was tested by Satan with God's permission to see if he would lose his faith and curse the Lord, strikes us as a terribly unfair situation, or even as a cruel joke.

Job lost his land and his many possessions, his family, and even his health. His lament reveals how brokenhearted he feels. "Is not man's life on earth a drudgery?" he cries. "I have been assigned months of misery . . . my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again."

"Persons of faith know in a tiny corner of our being, even when we are in the midst of pain and grieving, that God has not forgotten our name, that he weeps with us when we are brokenhearted, that he binds up our wounds and embraces us with a loving compassion -- one person at a time."

These are the words of a man whose heart and soul have borne all the pain they can endure. Yet in the context of the story it seems that God just stands by, watching his faithful servant suffer and doing nothing about it.

We know how the story turns out. Job remains faithful in spite of his suffering and painful experiences. He does not curse God but reaffirms his faith. The Lord then blesses Job, restoring his health and giving him land, possessions, and family even greater than he had before.

Readings for Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Feb. 9, 2003) Job 7:1-4, 6-7 Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23 Mark 1:29-39

The life experiences of Job are not all that different from our own. Which of us has not lain in bed like Job, filled with restlessness as "the night drags on"? Which of us has not allowed worry to consume us? Which of us has not, at times, felt that we would never be happy again?

At times like these we might feel our faith in God crumbling. On the outside we might say, as do the psalms, "Praise the Lord, for he is good," but inside we are brokenhearted, wounded, and we feel like the Lord has forgotten our name.

At such times it does no good for us to hear from others words like "don't worry, time heals all wounds" or "it's better this way" or "you'll get over it - I did." What we really need to do is what Job did: to allow our own suffering and grief to flood over us, knowing that God will not let us drown in them.

Persons of faith know in a tiny corner of our being, even when we are in the midst of pain and grieving, that God has not forgotten our name, that he weeps with us when we are brokenhearted, that he binds up our wounds and embraces us with loving compassion - one person at a time.

Jesus often went among the people to cure their sick and to preach the Gospel - "for this purpose have I come," he said. He preached to the crowds the message of God's faithfulness and mercy, his love and forgiveness. But healing them of their illness, wounds, and broken hearts he did one at a time.

The Gospel doesn't tell us that Jesus walked into a hospital ward or among a group of the sick or the suffering and waved his hand like magic over them. No, he grasped the hand of Simon's mother-in-law, or went into the house of the synagogue official, or talked to a paralytic lying on his mat, or looked into the eyes of a woman sick for many years. He smeared mud on a blind man's eyes and put his fingers into the ears of a deaf man.

And just as, in the midst of Job's suffering, God took his faithful servant's heart in his own hands and healed the pain and the sorrow that rested there, so does he call us by name, take us by the hand, look us in the eye, assure us of his love, and drive out the demons of sin, sorrow, and sickness that break our hearts.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.