St. Gregory the Great, one the greatest of the popes, was called to that position in the 6th century, when Rome was under siege and in decline.  He didn’t want the job and for spiritual guidance he read from the Book of Job.  We would never know the greatness of Job, if suffering didn’t reveal it, he said.  Here are a few lines from his commentary on Job, our first reading this week:

“Paul saw the riches of wisdom within himself though his outward body was corruptible, and so he says ‘ We have this treasure in earthen vessels.  In Job, then, the earthen vessel had gaping sores, while an interior treasure of wisdom remained unchanged. Gaping outward wounds did not stop a treasure of wisdom from welling up within, for he said: ‘If we have received good things at the hand of the Lord, shall we not receive evil?’

By good things Job means the good things given by God, both temporal and eternal; by evil he means the blows he presently suffers.

When we’re afflicted, let’s remember our Maker’s gifts to us. Suffering will not depress us if we quickly remember the gifts we’ve been given. As Scripture says, ‘In the day of prosperity do not forget affliction, and in the day of affliction, do not forget prosperity.’”

The love of God for us was proven through the death of his Son, Jesus Christ who, like Job, was tested by suffering and death.