The Example of Two Men

At Mass yesterday, Father mentioned that the most important part of the reading about Jacob's son Joseph and his brothers had been left out.  That part, he said, was about how Joseph got lost going out to his brothers and a man in a field directed him.  According to tradition, the "man" who directed him was the archangel Gabriel.

He used that story to illustrate how God sometimes directs us to suffering.  After all, Joseph was stripped of his wonderful coat, thrown in the cistern, and then sold to Egyptian traders; he must have been wondering what God was doing to him.  Saint Patrick suffered similarly.

Yet think of all the good that came from that God-directed suffering.  Joseph was able to save his family from dying of famine.  Saint Patrick converted Ireland.

In our own lives, we look for ways to avoid suffering.  It is part of our culture.  Hence it is nearly inescapable that we should imbibe that perspective even without consciously giving in to it, especially since this view seems to be inherently rooted in our fallen human nature.  So when it comes to the spiritual life, we approach it in the same way.  We expect God to send us messengers pointing us to glory and good things, even in this life.

Sometimes God sends messengers who lead us to suffering instead.  This experience may cause us to doubt our faith, or to doubt the goodness of God, but if we look to the example of Joseph and of Saint Patrick it may help us to remember that God sees all and has a greater plan in allowing us to experience that suffering.

In essence, we must united ourselves with the Divine Will, as Father said: we must abandon ourselves to Divine Providence.

The more ways we have of helping our intellect to understand the ways of Divine Providence, the more I think we will find ourselves able to make the surrender of the heart that it requires.  Even though ultimately our minds may stand in our way of making that leap of faith, hopefully our knowledge shall rather aid us in preparing to make that absolute surrender of ourselves, recklessly abandoning ourselves to the God who knows all things.