Job’s assessment of a person’s life in the first reading is a real downer, but the description is one that most of us have experienced in life. We’ve worked hard, accumulated things, perhaps retired, and, at some point, life falls apart. Someone dies; someone gets seriously ill and we get to a point where we say to ourselves, “Is that all there is?” Job later admits his despair and his need for God. St Paul, in the second reading, is telling us he has a choice to spread the Gospel or not. He chooses to so that others may understand the Good News and continue the message. In St Mark’s Gospel, the disciples, just like Job, took their troubles to God in the person of Jesus. They brought those afflicted with many different diseases to Jesus for healing. They knew He would do something about it.
That’s the message for today. Regardless of what happens in our life, trying to solve challenges on our own only leads to despair. We should never give up hope and always take our troubles to the Lord. Take a lesson from Jesus in the Gospel. In spite of the chaos surrounding Jesus, He found time for prayer. Perhaps that might be our answer as well.