In Good Times and Bad

How often here at CTR are weddings celebrated? Young couples promise each other: “…In good times and in bad, in sick and in health,” Under the romanticism of the day and their feelings for each other, these young husbands and wives mean what they say. Often as the priest presider at these celebrations I often think what stories the married couples in the congregation could tell as footnotes to these marriage promises. Like me these longer married couples in the congregation know lots of stories both good and bad.

Christian marriage as a sacrament allows the community to witness the presence of Christ in the diverse moments of our Christian life. What these young couples will discover is the abiding presence of Christ as the reality of their lives “in good times and in bad, in sickness, and in health.” Their wedding days are just the beginning of their willingness to “love and honor each other all the days of [their] life.”

From this marriage scenario, perhaps, we can weave a reflection on Christian living in general and, in particular, the good times and bad situations of our current daily experience. Marital fidelity is signed in the wedding liturgy and invites the couples and the community as well to the commitment of life together. What is less visible at weddings is the need for commitment, which is hard work, and the involvement of the community in their own living of Christian life.

Complaining About the Times
As the presider of many a wedding I often think what a blessing these occasions are for the participants, the couples and community as well. Like all of the sacraments of the Church, marriage is like “solace and consolation in the midst of woe”. It is life giving and hopeful in its invitation to embrace life in its fullness. In praying the psalms about praising God “from the rising of the sun to its setting,” we learn that every moment and every situation is an encounter with God present in our lives. Nothing is excluded from the action of God in our lives. Our recent Sunday reading of Paul’s Letter to the Romans has reminded us that “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”

Our times, we read in the newspapers, watch on our televisions, and talk about in our everyday conversations, are not good. Fuel prices are high. Food is costly. Our healthcare system is broken. The housing market continues to be sluggish. Political campaigns seem more and more negative. Complaining is contagious and good news is difficult to hear or share with others. “In good times and in bad…” “Nothing separates us from the love of God…” Is it possible to escape from the negativity of the present moment?

Maybe the Book of Job comes to the rescue. This most popularly read book of the Bible tells us the human tale of suffering and woe. It also tells us the action of God in the midst of it all. Job, as we all remember from the story, is richly blessed by God and he constantly remembers to bless God for his goodness. Then adversity comes as the story tells us that Job is “put to the test” by losing everything in his life. Job bravely prays that “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” The story is not too satisfactory in explaining the good and the bad of life. The actors and the reader are left wondering about where God is in all of this.

An appendix is added to the Book of Job, where God speaks from the “storm cloud” and offers a seeming rebuke to questioners: “who are you to ask?” We are left with the mystery of God in his heavens, but still part of human history. The challenge is to live with the mystery, not of God being absent from us, but of our not understanding. The challenge, which Job takes up, is to allow the mystery to embrace him, and to embrace the mystery as well.

Time Out from Moaning
We need time out from this complaining and negative perception of our lives. A suggestion is stop the moaning and take up centering ourselves in the mystery of God. Let’s try prayer in the challenging times of our lives. Prayer is not an escape, but a jumping into the mystery of God in our lives. We discover God and we discover ourselves. In that discovery we might find how life goes on “in good times and in bad”.

Prayer time is more than problem solving. Shorten the intercession and increase the praise and thanksgiving. Often in our prayers we continue complaining to God about our problems. Despite the long tradition of lamenting, we need to remind ourselves that lamentation, both in the psalms and in the Book of Job, end in living in the presence of God and praising him for that mystery. Some practical prayer hints:

+ Review your life history recalling the good times and the fidelity of God.

+ Recall the good people and the good things as blessings, signs of God’s action in your lives.

+ Be still and wait for the silencing of the storm and the rescue from the waves.

Remember the gospel last week: “Save us” they said. Jesus rescued them. Do we expect that?

CDH