Scripture Reflections for Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

"Poor old Job! You can't help feeling sorry for the man. Despite all his protestations and prayers, God seems to be ignoring his requests! Why, I wonder, does the Church introduce us to Job's suffering so early in this year's Liturgical Calendar, and so close to the beginning of Lent in ten days time? A reading from the prophet Job only appears once in the Sunday scripture readings, so why now? If my memory serves..."

Fr. Leo Edgar. "Poor Old Job!." Torch. January 31, 2018

"Jewish understanding of the last days, when the Messiah came, the End would be an image of the beginning, the first creation would be as the last. In the last days not only would the last redeemer, the Messiah, be as the first, Moses the great and pre-eminent teacher, the world would once again be as it was in the beginning. Jesus restores that unity between humanity and divinity lost in Eden. These things happen..."

Allan White. "A New Creation." Torch. February 3, 2021

"In the opening chapter of St Mark's Gospel, Jesus is driven into the wilderness by the Spirit – a vivid and dramatic opening of his ministry. He is not led, he is driven, almost as if by a power beyond his control. 'The Kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the Gospel', he tells us. What is this Kingdom? Essentially, it is a proclamation of the rule of God. Today's Gospel seems..."

Fr. Denis Geraghty. "Obedience and Life." Torch. February 5, 2012

"Life is difficult, but it is neither helpful nor virtuous to utter expressions of stoic fatalism. The true virtue, the true courage, is to maintain hope (and also love and joy) in the face of what can sometimes look and feel like an ocean of darkness. This Sunday’s readings raise the problem of the great sorrows of life, the reverses, difficulties, and especially illnesses that can seem to sap life of all joy. Yet in..."

John Bergsma. "Is Life a Drudgery?." The Sacred Page. February 7, 2021

"When it comes to clichés, perhaps one of the most archetypal of all is the cliché 'life is just one damned thing after another.' A cliché of course is a common expression that has lost all its freshness and meaning through overuse, and this is certainly true of the 'one damned thing' saying. Through frequent repetition over the last hundred years, this saying has become very dull, but what's more, repetition and dullness seem to..."

Fr. Robert Verrill. "No Clichés in Christ." Torch. February 3, 2015

"In his grief Job takes a grim view of our lot. Genesis told how Adam and Eve had been created in God's image, to share in his rule, to co-operate freely in the creation. But now Job sees life as servitude. Sitting among the ashes of his past good fortune, he has come to see the world through the eyes of Israel's pagan neighbours and enemies. It was they who thought the gods made human..."

Fr. Richard Finn. "A New Sabbath." Torch. February 5, 2006

"What conclusion do we usually draw when we reflect on the ‘whyness’ of human suffering? Naturally nobody desires suffering. It is scary to cohabit with it. It humiliates. This was the experience of Job in today’s first reading. However, the reading challenges us to avoid Job’s pessimistic and desperate view of life as a chain of pain and sufferings and to accept life with hope and optimism as a precious gift from God, using it..."

Father Lawrence Obilor. "God and the Suffering Humanity." A Catholic Moment.